WHO chief urges more countries to join COVAX as death toll exceeds 1 m

One million people are confirmed to have lost their lives to COVID-19, but "the real number is certainly higher," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a high-level United Nations event on Wednesday.

A total of 167 countries have now joined the WHO-led COVAX global vaccines facility, representing 70 percent of the world's population. Tedros addressed the New York event from Geneva, adding that "the list is growing every day." COVAX aims to deliver at least 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021 and to ensure "equitable access."