Worldwide death toll from coronavirus now exceeds 500,000

ROME, Italy — Another tragic milestone was passed Sunday in the coronavirus pandemic: 500,000 deaths worldwide.

The tally comes from Johns Hopkins University researchers.

About 1 in 4 of those deaths – more than 125,000 – have been reported in the U.S. The country with the next highest death toll is Brazil, with more than 57,000, or about 1 in 9.

The true death toll from the virus, which first emerged in China late last year, is widely believed to be significantly higher. Experts say that especially early on, many victims died of Covid-19 without being tested for it.

To date, more than 10 million confirmed cases have been reported globally. About a quarter of them have been reported in the U.S.