Coronavirus tracked: As we reach 1m Covid-19 deaths – how does that compare to other diseases?

When the World Health Organisation officially declared the Covid-19 coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March, it became only the second disease of the 21st century to earn this ignominious status. At the time, there were just over 100,000 cases and less than 5,000 deaths worldwide, but outside of China its spread remained largely unchecked. Within three months, Covid-19 deaths had overtaken the roughly 360,000 lives claimed by the 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu – the only other disease of the last 20 years to be labelled a pandemic by WHO. Just over eight months after the first death was recorded, the coronavirus death toll has now passed 1 million.