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The world passed 2 million coronavirus deaths on Friday, a stunning toll that continues to rise as more contagious variants of the virus take hold.
The United States has had, by far, the highest number of deaths and cases of any country in the world, with more than 390,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom follow.
China reported its first death since May this week, as a team from the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived to investigate the origins of the pandemic there after previously expressing concerns about the Beijing hindered the investigation.
China has faced a close review of its level of transparency about the outbreak and the accuracy of its death and case numbers.
New coronavirus variants are now leading to an even faster spread of the virus, with the strains discovered in the UK and South Africa raising particular concern.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Friday that the British variant could be the predominant strain in the United States by March.
“The increased transmissibility of the variant … ensures universal and increased compliance with mitigation strategies, including distancing and masking,” the CDC warned.
The vaccines offer some hope of taming the pandemic, but it will be several months before they become widely available in the United States, and possibly much longer in some other countries.
Health officials are therefore urging people to continue to wear masks and to stay away from others.
“It is really important to remind people, both government and individuals, of the responsibilities and measures that we need to put into practice for the rest of the year at least, because even though vaccines start to protect the most vulnerable , we are not going to achieve every level of immunity of the population, of collective immunity, in 2021, ”WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said this week.
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