The number of global coronavirus-caused deaths has risen above 3 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University published on Saturday.
The virus that surfaced in late 2019 in central China and the ensuing pandemic has infected more than 100 million people, leaving billions more under crippling lockdowns and ravaging the global economy.
Over 1 million people have died in the three months since mid-January when the death toll reached the last grim milestone.
It took eight months to reach 1 million dead and less than four months after that to reach the second million.
The pandemic continues to ravage populations around the world as more virulent variants appear and spread quickly, with some increasing the virulence of the virus.
COVID-19 deaths have continued to rise despite months-long vaccination campaigns.
However, richer countries have been slammed for hoarding vaccine doses, while countries with large populations such as India and Brazil struggle to bring down even deadlier surges in infection rates.
While the count is based on figures supplied by government agencies around the world, the real toll is believed to be significantly higher because of poor testing and many inaccurately recorded deaths, especially during the first months of the outbreak.
Global cases and deaths continue to rise, but not uniformly across the world.
Some countries such as the UK and Portugal that had previously been hit by rampant surges have since managed to bring their case numbers down and even emerge from strict lockdowns.
Other countries have seen their earlier efforts decimated by newer, more contagious variants, such as the B117 strain first discovered in the UK.
India — with a population of over 1.3 billion — reported a record-breaking 200,000 new daily infections on Thursday after having successfully brought an earlier wave under control.
Germany, which had been praised during the first few months of the pandemic for its handling of the crisis, reported almost 30,000 new cases — among a population of just over 80 million — in one day on Thursday.
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