Covid-19 has caused 6.9 million deaths globally, more than double what official numbers show, according to an analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine. IHME found that Covid-19 deaths are significantly underreported in almost every country.

The worldwide coronavirus death toll surpassed 2 million on Jan. 15, according to a Reuters tally, as nations around the world are trying to procure multiple vaccines and detect new Covid-19 variants.

The United States lost more than 22,000 lives to Covid-19 for the week ended Jan. 10, setting a record for the second week in a row, as new cases also hit a weekly high.

The mayor of San Francisco ordered new lockdowns and business restrictions across the Bay Area in the face of the Covid-19 surge, as political leaders nationwide ramp up pressure on Americans to stay home until vaccines can be distributed.

U.S. leaders urgently called on Americans to wear masks and threatened even more drastic stay-at-home orders after deaths from the coronavirus set a single-day record, with two people dying every minute.

North Dakota became the 35th U.S. state to require face coverings be worn in public, as governors across the country grapple with a surge in coronavirus infections that threatens to swamp their healthcare systems.

The likelihood that a coronavirus infection will prove fatal dropped by nearly a third since April due to improved treatment, researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) said.

Chicago’s mayor issued a month-long stay-at-home advisory, and Detroit’s public schools called a halt to in-person instruction to curb the spread of the coronavirus as more than a dozen U.S. states reported a doubling of new Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks.

U.S. coronavirus cases crossed the 9 million mark, rising by 1 million in two weeks as the world’s worst-affected country faces a resurgence in the pandemic just ahead of elections.

U.S. deaths from the coronavirus will reach 410,000 by the end of 2020 and deaths could soar to 3,000 per day in December, the University of Washington’s health institute forecast.