Covid-19 has killed 1 million people as of 6:30am, Monday, Sep. 28, Singapore time.

The disease had claimed 1,000,009 victims from 33,018,877 recorded infections, according to an AFP tally using official sources.

In total, controls put in place starting April 2020 to limit movement has affected 4 billion people.

Worst-hit

The United States has the highest death toll with more than 200,000 fatalities followed by Brazil, India, Mexico and Britain.

Europe is now facing another surge in cases, with Paris, London and Madrid all forced to introduce controls to slow cases threatening to overload hospitals.

Possible resurgence

Mid-September saw a record rise in cases in most regions and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned virus deaths could even double to 2 million without more global collective action.

"One million is a terrible number and we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million," the WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan told reporters on Sep. 25.

"Are we prepared collectively to do what it takes to avoid that number?"

Virus controls slow the spread of the disease, but they hurt already reeling economies and businesses.

Background

According to the virus narrative, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the illness known as Covid-19, made its first known appearance in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, ground zero of the outbreak in late-2019.

Wuhan was shut down in January as other countries looked on in disbelief at China's draconian controls.

The rest of the world went about their business as usual.

By March 11, the virus had emerged in over 100 countries and the WHO declared a pandemic, expressing concern about the "alarming levels of inaction".

Vaccine in progress

Crucially, nine vaccine candidates are in last-stage clinical trials.

The aim is to have them ready by next year.

But questions remain about how and when they will be distributed around the world.

Top photo via Unsplash