Global death toll from COVID-19 eclipses 4 million

The global death toll from COVID-19 has eclipsed four million as the crisis increasingly becomes a race between the vaccine and the highly contagious delta variant. The tally of lives lost over the past year-and-a-half, is about equal to the number of people killed in battle in all of the world's wars since 1982. At the same time, the disaster has exposed the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.

World Health Organization, Ann Lindstrand said "The variants of concern, the inequitable distribution of access to vaccines, some high income countries letting go of public health and social measures - that is a toxic combination that is very dangerous."

Rich countries including Britain, the US and France have promised to donate about 1 billion COVID-19 shots to help close the inequality gap. But experts say 11 billion jabs are needed to immunize the world.