The global death toll from Covid-19 topped 5 million on Monday, Johns Hopkins University revealed in a new report.
Nearly 250 million cases of the virus have been also recorded worldwide.
The report came nearly two years after the start of the pandemic that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems.
The death toll, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, is about equal to the populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco combined.
In the US, more than 745,800 people have died, making it the country with the highest number of recorded deaths.
It is followed by Brazil, with 607,824 recorded deaths, and India, with 458,437.
But health experts believe these numbers are under reported, partly because of deaths at home and those in rural communities.
Globally, Covid-19 is now the third leading cause of death, after heart disease and stroke.
The WHO has earlier warned that a new coronavirus “variant of interest” named Mu, also known by its scientific name as B.1.621.
The health organisation said it closely monitors the new variant’s spread.
The mu SARS-CoV-2 strain first appeared in Colombia in January, as a “variant of interest.”
Since then, there have been “sporadic reports” of cases and outbreaks in South America and Europe.
Variants of interest have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics including transmissibility, disease severity and immune escape.
According to the WHO, variants of interest differ from variants of concern. The later can cause a decrease in effectiveness of public health measures, vaccines or therapeutics.
