The coronavirus pandemic passed 2 million confirmed infections and 130,000 deaths worldwide on Wednesday — bleak markers that experts say vastly understate the true spread and toll of the contagion because of a lack of testing.
The figures have roughly doubled in 13 days and continue to grow steadily.
The actual number of cases is much higher than the official figures suggest, with countries varying in how much they are testing people.
Even as some European countries, including Germany, hopeful that the worst is behind them, begin to take careful steps to lift restrictions imposed to slow the virus, outbreaks in many parts of the world are still considered far from their peaks.
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended a nationwide lockdown for nearly three more weeks, leaving more than one billion people under severe restrictions and urging Indians not to “let our guard down.”