The global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University and Reuters tallies, with the United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities. More than 18.54 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus as of Wednesday, up more than 400,000 in just one day. More than 11 million have recovered.
Nearly 5,900 people die every 24 hours from COVID-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks.
That equates to 247 people per hour, or one person every 15 seconds.
The United States and Latin America are the new epicenters of the pandemic, and both are struggling to curb the spread of the virus.