Coronavirus: WHO urges world not to despair as global cases pass 20 million
- It took about six months to reach 10 million infections, but just 43 days to double that tally
- US, Brazil and India account for more than half of known cases
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide topped 20 million, more than half of them from the United States, India and Brazil, as Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a vaccine against the virus.
It took six months or so to get to 10 million cases after the virus first appeared in central China late last year. It took just over six weeks for that number to double.
06:17
‘Robust immune responses’ found in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials point to 2021 release
In yet another staggering landmark, the death toll was expected to surpass 750,000 in a matter of days as the global health crisis rages on.
“Behind these statistics is a great deal of pain and suffering … But I want to be clear: there are green shoots of hope,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “It’s never too late to turn the outbreak around.”
With much of the world caught in a cycle of dispiriting outbreaks and economically crushing lockdowns, all eyes are on the race for a vaccine.