Global Covid toll tops 2m; China cases surge to 10-month high

The world hit a frightening Covid-19 benchmark,with 2 million people dead and few expectations for infections to start dropping soon. The number of dead, compiled by Johns Hopkins, is about equal to the population of Brussels, Mecca, Minsk or Vienna. It took eight months to hit 1 million dead. It took less than four months after that to reach the next million.

The milestone was reached just over a year after the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan and comes as China reports the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in more than 10 months A severe outbreak in the country’s northeast has put more than 28 million people under lockdown. On Thursday, a total of 144 new cases were reported, the National Health Commission said, up from 138 cases a day earlier and marking the highest daily increase since 202 cases reported on March 1. To date, China has reported 87,988 confirmed cases with 4,635 deaths.