Four million of anything seems a lot. Before the pandemic it was almost as much as singles winners at Wimbledon received. (They'll have to make do with a squeak over $3.1 million this year).
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The European countries of Moldova or Croatia each have populations of about four million.
It's also now the global death toll from Covid-19. But it's not is it? We all know poorer countries do not have the ability to plot health statistics as, for instance, we can in Australia. Heaven knows the real numbers.
However, as vaccine rollouts have allowed life to return to a version similar to normal in some places (did you see those scenes in England after that Euros win?), the toll continues to rise.
Thanks to outbreaks of more infectious strains it's worth noting it has taken just 82 days for the latest million deaths. That's April 17, folks - and really, that's not that long ago.
The previous million deaths took 92 days - so any confidence for the global "speedy" recovery is ill-placed and nave.
In the meantime, South Korea has reported its highest ever one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases; the World Health Organisation cautioned countries on lifting Covid restrictions; and Olympic Games host Japan is set to declare a state of emergency for Tokyo through to August 22 to contain a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Domestically, ignoring NSW's continued bleak news, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, complete with patriotic pandemic face mask, delivered these Covid-related nuggets of news: that outbreak-hit south-western Sydney would receive 300,000 more vaccines (without impacting other states); that the asset test related to Covid "disaster payments" of $325 and $500 would be ditched and, most happily, that the federal government's vaccination program is "hitting our marks".
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