Prognosis

Global Covid Deaths Top 6 Million as Omicron Wave Leaves Scars

  • Milestone reached despite vaccines slashing fatality rates
  • Covid continues to kill thousands of people every day

Headstones and crosses mark the graves of Covid-19 fatalities at the Rorotan cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg
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More than 6 million people worldwide have died from Covid-19 two years after the novel pathogen started spreading globally, despite the distribution of vaccines that slashed fatality rates across the globe.

The latest 1 million recorded deaths came more slowly than the previous intervals. It took about 125 days to go from 5 million deaths to 6 million, compared to 117 days to hit the 5-million mark and less than 90 days each to reach the 3- and 4-million ones. The pace has returned to what was seen during the first year of the pandemic, when the virus was still taking hold.