Despite jabs, lockdowns still a weapon amid resurgence, especially in S. Asia

PARIS - The global COVID-19 death toll passed 3 million on Saturday as the pandemic speeds up despite vaccination campaigns, leading countries such as India to impose new lockdowns to fight spiraling infection numbers.

It was the latest grim milestone since the novel coronavirus began to infect more than 139 million people, leaving billions more under crippling lockdowns and ravaging the global economy.

An average of more than 12,000 deaths were recorded globally every day in the past week, shooting the overall toll past 3 million on Saturday, according to a tally by Agence France-Presse.

Three million people is more than the population of Jamaica or Armenia and three times the death toll of the Iran-Iraq war that raged from 1980 to 1988.

And the pandemic is showing no sign of slowing: the 829,596 new infections reported worldwide on Friday is the highest number yet, the tally said.

The daily average of 731,000 cases registered over the past week was also close to being a record.

India's capital, New Delhi, went into lockdown on Saturday as the world's second-most populous country recorded 234,000 new cases and 1,341 deaths.

India now has three times the daily cases of the United States, the world's worst-hit country, and families are clamoring for drugs and hospital beds.

The daily figures continue to peak in the country every day, and the government has imposed new measures to contain the spread. Some school exams were canceled, and others have been postponed in the wake of the deteriorating situation.

Some doctors say they are alarmed at how many young people are now becoming seriously ill-like Raj Karan, 38, who fell sick while campaigning for elections in the northern city of Lucknow. He died soon after.

"I am devastated," his friend Ajay Singh Yadav said. "I could only see him via a video call."

Hopes that South Asian countries might have gone through the worst of the pandemic have been dashed, with India recording more than 2 million new cases this month alone and Bangladesh and Pakistan imposing new shutdowns.

Udaya Regmi of the International Red Cross said the "truly frightening" South Asian surge was a "wake-up call to the world".

India launched a nationwide vaccination drive in January, and so far more than 122 million people have been vaccinated across the country.

The government has ramped up testing facilities, as more than 266 million tests have been conducted.

In richer countries that have waged mass inoculation efforts, virus numbers have plummeted.

Britain, which has given 60 percent of the population at least one vaccination dose, now records about 30 deaths a day, compared with 1,200 in late January.

Deep divisions

An opinion piece published on Bloomberg's website on Friday said the US, which makes up about 4 percent of the world's population, has 24 percent of vaccinations.

"By hoarding vaccines, the Western world has left many in emerging economies uncovered," said the article, by Clara Ferreira Marques, a columnist. "While more than 848 million doses have been administered, countries with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated 25 times faster than those with the lowest."

Marques said the world needs China's vaccines because they have filled the vaccine shortage and Chinese vaccines are highly effective against severe disease, which can significantly reduce the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus.