COVID-19 is "not the great killer of our modern time", according to The AM Show sports reader Mark Richardson.
As he and his co-hosts discussed the latest infection figures from throughout the world on Thursday's show, Richardson said the global death rate from the virus is still "very low".
The exact mortality rate of COVID-19 is not yet calculable, but so far more than 3 million people worldwide have caught the virus, while 228,252 people have died. Deciphering mortality rates while the disease is still unfolding is difficult because the number of deaths and patients is constantly changing.
"This virus is not, you know, the great killer of our modern time,” Richardson said.
Host Duncan Garner, however, highlighted that about 60,000 people had died in the US alone.
"[There's] a lot of people in the States," Richardson replied.
But newsreader Amanda Gillies said, "that doesn't justify it".
Garner added the virus will become a "distant memory" when a vaccine comes around.
"There'll be no deaths from it," he said. "The vaccination will sort it."
There have now been more than 225,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 around the world.
Reuters / Newshub.
