Prince William has returned to the hospital where his wife, Kate Middleton, was born for a somber anniversary. It has been five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Prince of Wales wanted to pay tribute to a health charity that helps staff and patients.

Today, the official Covid death toll in the United States stands at 1.22 million. Excess mortality counts, which compare the total number of all-cause deaths with a projection of what they would have been without the pandemic, run a little higher — about 1.5 million.

A China-based tourism agency recently started taking bookings for a Pyeongyang package tour that includes participation of North Korea's Pyongyang International Marathon, as the totalitarian state has resumed tourism to Western visitors after a five-year hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week. They are the first international travelers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year.