The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems. “What do we have to do to protect ourselves so we don’t get to another 5 million?”The death toll, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco combined. Globally, COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke. Advertisement“What’s uniquely different about this pandemic is it hit hardest the high-resource countries,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP, a global health center at Columbia University. Wealth has also played a role in the global vaccination drive, with rich countries accused of locking up supplies.

Source: Huffington Post November 01, 2021 23:00 UTC