Brazil’s health minister falls ill in suspected coronavirus case; state-owned drugmaker in China prepares to supply a billion vaccine doses
- Coronavirus – latest updates
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The US Centers for Disease Control and Protection has found that 300,000 excess deaths were recorded in the US this year – 66% of which are accounted for by the official coronavirus death toll of around 220,000.
Excess deaths refer to how many more deaths have been reported in total this year compared with the same period last year. Usually, between the beginning of February and the end of September, about 1.9 million deaths are reported. This year, it is closer to 2.2 million – a 14.5% increase.