The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has urged everyone to learn from mistakes made over the handling of the pandemic, as the number of people known to have died from the coronavirus passed one million.

Mr Guterres said the figure was mind-numbing; he called for respect for science in tackling the crisis, warning that misinformation killed people.

The US, Brazil and India account for nearly half of the million victims.

Some experts believe that the real number of fatalities could be significantly higher, as testing rates in many countries remain low, meaning deaths related to Covid-19 are not properly recorded.

The Johns Hopkins University in the US says that nearly 23 million people are known to have recovered from the virus worldwide.