Covid-19: more than two million dead worldwide, "a painful course" for the UN Secretary General

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has killed more than two million people worldwide since its discovery in China in December 2019, according to a count made by AFP from official reports provided by the authorities on Friday January 15 at 6:25 p.m. GMT .

Read also: Covid-19: Sweden exceeds 10,000 dead

In total, 2,000,066 deaths were recorded, for 93,321,070 reported cases.

Europe, with 650,560 dead, is the most affected region, ahead of Latin America / Caribbean - with 542,410 - and the United States / Canada which has 407,090.

The countries with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 are the United States (389,581), Brazil (207,095), India (151,918), Mexico (137,916), the United Kingdom (87,295) and Italy (81,325).

These six countries alone account for more than half of the deaths in the world.

The figures compiled by AFP are based on reports published daily by the health authorities in each country.

Globally, they are a partial estimate of the real number of deaths, the statistical organizations of several countries having concluded a posteriori to an even greater number of deaths attributable to Covid-19.

On September 28, a little over nine months after the announcement of the first death in China in January 2020, one million deaths were recorded worldwide.

Since then, the epidemic has accelerated further and another million people have died in less than four months.

The past week has been the deadliest since the start of the pandemic.

Over the past seven days, more than 13,600 deaths have been recorded every day on average around the world, a figure up 20% from the previous week.

Europe, since October again become the epicenter of the pandemic, has recorded in the last seven days more than a third of the deaths counted in the world.

The 52 countries and territories in the region have reported an average of 5,570 daily deaths, 17% more than the previous week.

Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the strongest acceleration with a 25% increase in the number of deaths last week, or 2,751 deaths per day on average.

The United States / Canada (+ 20%, 3,490) and Africa (+ 20%, 869) follow.

According to the figures reported to the population, Belgium is the country which deplores the highest number of deaths with 1751 deaths recorded per million inhabitants, followed by Slovenia (1501), Italy (1345) and Bosnia- Herzegovina (1344).

Lack of solidarity for the UN chief

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres deplored on Friday "

a painful course

" after the announcement that the Covid-19 pandemic has killed more than two million people, regretting the "

failure of solidarity

" in the vaccination in progress around the world.

"

We are now

seeing

a vaccine gap

," he observed in a statement.

“

While high-income countries have access to vaccines, poorer countries don't.

It is a success for science but a failure for solidarity,

”he insists.

Without identifying them, the UN chief criticizes in particular the fact that "

certain countries conclude parallel agreements and even obtain vaccines beyond their needs

".

"

Governments have a responsibility to protect their people, but 'vaccinationalism' is doomed to failure and will only delay recovery on a global scale

," he warns, asserting: "

We will not come to this. end of Covid-19 if each country acts on its side

”.

According to him, priority must be given to those who are "

on the front line: humanitarian personnel and populations at high risk

".

At a press conference, the president of the UN General Assembly, ex-minister Volkan Bozkir, announced that he and Antonio Guterres would be vaccinated very soon.

The UN chief will be next week, and the President of the General Assembly on February 2.

This without privilege but because of an age exceeding 65 which makes them both enter a vaccine category in New York, said Volkan Bozkir.