This animated graph lays bare how quickly Covid-19 overtook other diseases and tragedies to become one of the the world’s biggest killers.

Data comparing the novel infection to major illnesses and other causes of death such as conflict and terrorism, shows just how rapidly fatalities rose.

Over 365,000 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus worldwide, and the number of cases is close to six million.

The graph shows how in the space of four months, the never before heard of virus overtook malaria, malnutrition, homicide and meningitis to become one of the leading causes of deaths worldwide.

From being at the bottom of the chart in January, when news emerged from China about the killer disease, Covid slowly begins to rise in February, when it was largely contained to Asia.

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But it rapidly shoots up towards the end of March and April, by which time it was at its peak in most of Europe and had spread to every corner of the globe.

The graph uses data from the John Hopkins University tracker and  Global Burden of Disease study. It does not include deaths from cardiovascular disease or cancer, which according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), are the biggest killers globally.

Their data shows over 40,000 people are dying each day of the former, and 27,000 of the later. Over 10,00 people die each day of respiratory diseases, followed by coronavirus as the fourth biggest cause of death.

That is based on data from April 13-19, when the average number of coronavirus deaths was 7,509.

That figure may now be higher as the deadly disease sweeps across Latin America, the new epicentre of the outbreak.

The UK is among several countries that have begun lifting lockdown amid threats of a global recession worse than the Great Depression.

But the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave a stark warning last week that the pandemic is far from over, after 106,000 new cases were counted worldwide in a single day – the highest rise on record.

Infection rates in Latin America are growing rapidly as lockdowns ease in Europe.

Brazil has surpassed the UK as the country with the third highest infection cases, placing it behind the US and Russia.

WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: ‘We still have a long way to go in this pandemic. We are very concerned about rising cases in low- and middle-income countries.’

Hopes are resting on the development of a successful vaccine to put an end to the coronavirus crisis – though WHO have said this needs to be made accessible in the poorest countries to ensure the disease is truly eradicated.

University of Oxford researchers have began trialling a dose on thousands of people and say they should know if it is effective by mid-June.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, who have agreed to manufacture the jab, say they are doing it at cost and insist they have supply chains all over the world ‘to ensure the delivery of a globally accessible vaccine’.

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