Europe's virus death toll passes 800,000

Europe's virus death toll passes 800,000

More than 800,00 people have died from the coronavirus across Europe since the pandemic began in December 2019.

Covid-19 death
Covid-19 death/ iStock

As of Saturday, there were 800,361 deaths recorded in the 52 countries and territories that make up the continent - including Russia and Turkey - for 35,395,270 declared cases.


That puts the continent's death toll ahead of Latin America and the Caribbean, which has 635,834 dead for 20,021,361 cases; of the United States and Canada's 502,064 deaths for 28,312,719 cases; and Asia's 247,730 deaths for 15,641,940 cases.


Europe as a whole recorded an average 4,478 deaths a day from the virus last week, 14 percent lower than the previous week.


But since November 11, the region has recorded at least 4,000 deaths a day on average - peaking at a record 5,700 daily deaths at the end of January. 


For a month though, the figures for infections have been falling in Europe. 


But if the curve of average daily deaths has dropped, the tendency remains constant over the long term -- for since the beginning of November, 100,000 deaths have been recorded about every 20 days.


Thus Europe passed 500,000 deaths on December 17; 600,000 on January 7; and 700,000 on January 25.


The worst-hit countries in Europe are the United Kingdom with 116,908 deaths; Italy with 93,045; France with 81,488; Russia, with 79,696; and Spain with 64,747 deaths.


The worst death rates in Europe are Belgium with 186 deaths per 100,000 population; Slovenia, with 178 deaths; the UK with 171; the Czech Republic with 169; and Italy with 154 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.


But these figures -- and the death rates -- are based on daily tolls provided by national health authorities and exclude later re-evaluations by statistical organisations, as has happened in Russia, Spain and Britain.


The coronavirus has so far killed 2.38 million people across the world.


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