The coronavirus has killed at least 1 million people across the globe, a nightmarish milestone in the world’s fight against the virus that emerged from Wuhan, China, late last year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Roughly half of the world’s total Covid-19 fatalities have been reported in only four countries — the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to Hopkins data.
The U.S. reached a death toll above 200,000 people last week, more than any other country on the planet. Declared a pandemic over six months ago, the coronavirus has swept through nearly every nation and has infected more than 33 million people along the way, according to Johns Hopkins. It’s shuttered businesses and schools, wreaking havoc on global economies and leaving millions unemployed.
“One million is a terrible number, and I think we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, told reporters on Friday.
CNBC has compiled a package of stories that will run Monday and Tuesday looking back at how the coronavirus pandemic has changed health care, the economy and society itself since its discovery less than nine months ago.
Please check back here for links to these coming stories and more as they are published:
A timeline of the insidious path the coronavirus took around the world to kill more than 1 million
From a wet market in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus infiltrated Asia within weeks of its discovery before traveling to Europe, hitting the U.S. in January in Washington state and New York City. It’s since spread throughout Latin America and now Africa.
Medical historian compares the coronavirus to the 1918 flu pandemic: Both were highly political
A historical look at how the Covid-19 outbreak compares with the 1918 flu pandemic — from the diseases themselves to resistance to wearing masks during both outbreaks. There was even a 1918 epidemiologist who withstood criticism for his public health recommendations, similar to Dr. Anthony Fauci today.
As coronavirus deaths pass 1 million, health-care workers around the world share stories from the front lines
From Bangalore, India, to Sao Paulo, doctors and health workers share personal stories about the coronavirus outbreak from across the world.
The coronavirus is shifting the power balance in air travel to last-minute leisure passengers
Milan is out and the Rocky Mountains are in. The pandemic is turning airlines’ most price-sensitive customers, leisure travelers, into a prize. Carriers are adding more vacation destinations and trying to create softer, gentler policies for a group that has long taken a back seat.
How the U.S. economic response to the pandemic stacks up to the rest of the world
While the U.S. health response to the coronavirus pandemic has faced criticism, the economic response has been among the best in the world. In the throes of the pandemic, the Federal Reserve and U.S. lawmakers moved swiftly to implement unprecedented stimulus aimed at supporting the largest economy in the world during a global halt to economic activity.
