Forbes - Over 6 million deaths

Plus: Health experts chart a course for ‘new normal’

Today, the global death toll from Covid-19 passed 6 million people, according to data collected from Johns Hopkins University. That’s just four days short from this Friday, which will mark two years since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. Nearly half of those deaths occurred in just six countries: Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and the United States. The U.S. leads the world in having the most Covid-19 deaths, which is approaching 960,000. The states with the highest death rates for Covid-19 are Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama and New Jersey.

This figure is likely an underestimate of Covid-19’s real death toll. Several studies have suggested the actual death toll could be several times higher, in part because parts of the world don’t have the testing facilities to make accurate counts. Many nations have seen deaths from other causes rise as well, as hospitals overcrowded with Covid patients force other procedures to be delayed. The figure also doesn’t represent those suffering from long Covid symptoms, which may themselves pose risks: studies have found, for example, that people with Covid have higher rates of heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases in the year following illness compared to those who didn’t have Covid. 

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More Covid News

New research may explain how Covid can cause severe blood clotting and related complications in certain individuals. 

Covid-19 was linked with “significant” and damaging brain abnormalities even in mild cases, according to a study published in Nature on Monday. 

Two new pre-print studies suggest that Covid causes damage to the male reproductive system, but point to vaccination as a way of reducing or preventing the harm. 

What Else We Are Reading

• ‘We’re all in this together’: As long Covid studies continue, researchers cast a wider net (Stat)

• COVID restrictions are lifting — what scientists think (Nature)

• Tons of COVID Medical Garbage Threaten Health (Scientific American)