The number of people who have died from the CCP virus surpassed 4 million on July 7.
The official tally from government data doesn’t take into account the real number of deaths from the virus in China, where the communist regime has gone to great lengths to suppress information about the spread and impact of COVID-19.
The number of lives lost is roughly equal to the number of people killed in all of the world’s wars since 1982, according to estimates from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. The total is three times the number of people killed in traffic accidents around the world each year.
The toll is close to the population of Los Angeles, more than half that of Hong Kong, and nearly 50 percent of New York.
The mainstream consensus is that the broad proliferation of vaccines has contributed to a decrease in daily global deaths, from a peak of more than 18,000 in January to roughly 7,900.
Other countries have reimposed preventive measures, and authorities are rushing to step up the campaign to dispense vaccines. In the United States, a few municipal governments have issued new restrictions over the Delta variant. Several days ago, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health called on residents to wear face masks despite their vaccination status.
The World Health Organization has also recommended that people wear face coverings, and some countries—including Israel—have either extended or reimposed lockdowns due to the Delta variant.
The United States and other wealthy countries have agreed to share at least 1 billion vaccine doses with struggling countries.
Setting China’s unreliable totals aside, the United States has the world’s highest reported death toll at more than 600,000, followed by Brazil at more than 520,000.
The variants, uneven access to vaccines, and the relaxation of precautions in wealthier countries are “a toxic combination that is very dangerous,” said Ann Lindstrand, a top immunization official at the World Health Organization.