Worldwide coronavirus deaths have hit 1 million according to data compiled by several sources including The New York Times and the World Health Organization.

In addition, the Word Bank said in an economic update that the pandemic was expected to lead to the slowest growth in more than 50 years in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China - while up to 38 million people are set to be pushed back into poverty.

The bank said the region this year is projected to grow by 0.9% only, the lowest rate since 1967.

The data about the number of deaths and infections changes rapidly and might not reflect some cases still being reported, the sources said Tuesday. It includes confirmed and probable cases. "Probable cases are identified by public health officials and use criteria developed by government authorities," the sources said.

As well as the 1 million deaths, the data sources reported 33.4 million infections worldwide. The U.S. reports 205,000 deaths and 7.2 million infections, India has had 96,318 deaths and 6.2 million infections and Brazil has seen 142,000 deaths and 4.8 million infections. Approximately 23.2 million people have recovered from the disease.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that 1 million deaths from COVID-19 was "a very sad milestone," after many victims suffered "a terribly difficult and lonely death" and their families were unable to say goodbye.

The global coronavirus death toll rose past a million Tuesday, according to several counts, a grim statistic in a pandemic that has devastated the global economy, overloaded health systems and changed the way people live.

"So many people have lost so many people and haven't had the chance to say goodbye. Many people who died alone... It's a terribly difficult and lonely death," World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. "The one positive thing about this virus is it is suppressible, it is not the flu."

Meanwhile, the World Bank's report said growth in China was expected to be 2% this year thanks mainly to government spending, exports and a low rate of new coronavirus infections since March - but held back by slow domestic consumption.

The rest of the East Asia and Pacific region was projected to see a 3.5% contraction, the World Bank said.

The pandemic and efforts to contain its spread led to a "significant curtailment" of economic activity, the report said.

"These domestic difficulties were compounded by the pandemic-induced global recession, which hit East Asia and Pacific economies that rely on trade and tourism hard," it said.

The region may need to pursue fiscal change to mobilize revenue in response to the economic and financial effects from the pandemic while social protection programs can help support workers' integration back into the economy, the Washington, D.C.-based bank said.

"Countries with well-functioning social protection programs, and good implementation infrastructure, pre-COVID, have been able to scale up more quickly during the pandemic," it said.

The economic shock of the pandemic was also expected to lead to a jump in poverty - defined as income of $5.50 a day, the bank said. It added that, based on past experience and the latest gross domestic product forecasts, poverty could expand by 33 million to 38 million people for its first rise in 20 years.

The bank said that 33 million people who would have, in the absence of the pandemic, escaped poverty would remain in it this year.

"The region is confronted with an unprecedented set of challenges," the World Bank's vice president for East Asia and the Pacific Victoria Kwakwa said.

"But there are smart policy options available that can soften these trade-offs - such as investing in testing and tracing capacity and durably expanding social protection to cover the poor and the informal sector."