The global Covid-19 death toll passed three million on Saturday as the pandemic speeds up despite vaccination campaigns, leading countries like India to impose new lockdowns to fight spiralling infection numbers. An average of more than 12,000 deaths were recorded globally every day in the past week, shooting the overall toll past three million on Saturday, according to an AFP tally. For comparison, three million people is more than the population of Jamaica or Armenia and three times the death toll of the IranIraq war which raged from 1980-1988. Nationwide, India reported 261,500 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to nearly 14.8 million, second only to the United States, which has reported more than 31 million infections. The country’s deaths from COVID-19 rose by a record 1,501 to reach a total of 177,150.

Source: Nigerian Tribune April 19, 2021 06:45 UTC