One million and counting!

More than one million people have died from coronavirus, marking a grim milestone in the spread of the disease that has ravaged the world economy, inflamed diplomatic tensions, and upended lives from Indian slums to New York City.

Drastic controls that put half of humanity -- more than four billion people -- under some form of lockdown by April at first slowed the spread, but since restrictions were eased, infections have soared again. By 1100 GMT Monday, the disease had claimed 1,002,036 victims from 33,162,930 recorded infections, according to official sources, and a dedicated team of data specialists.

The United States has the highest death toll with more than 200,000 fatalities, followed by Brazil, India, Mexico, and Britain. Behind the figures lie millions of lives shattered by an illness that still holds many mysteries and which cannot yet be effectively treated or prevented, despite a global race to develop drugs and a vaccine. 

For Italian truck driver Carlo Chiodi, the global mortality statistics include both his parents, whom he lost within days of each other. “I saw my father walking out of the house, getting into the ambulance, and all I could say was ‘goodbye’,” Chiodi, 50, said. “I regret not saying ‘I love you’ and I regret not hugging him.”

‘A crisis like no other’ With new cases again surging worldwide, governments have been forced into an uneasy balancing act: virus controls slow the spread of the disease, but they hurt already reeling economies and businesses. The IMF has warned that the economic upheaval could cause a “crisis like no other”, though the Fund’s outlook appears brighter now than it did in June.

Europe, hit hard by the first wave, is now facing another surge, with Paris, London, and Madrid all forced to introduce controls to slow infections threatening to overload hospitals. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman urged citizens to keep to strict hygiene measures.  “The development of infection numbers is of great concern to us,” Steffen Seibert said.

“We can see from some of our European friends where that could lead.” Infections in India, home to 1.3 billion people, surged past six million on Monday, but authorities pressed ahead with a reopening of the battered South Asian economy