Bangladesh, Sept. 29 -- The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million on Tuesday, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders' resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.

"It's not just a number. It's human beings. It's people we love," said Dr. Howard Markel, a professor of medical history at the University of Michigan who has advised government officials on containing pandemics and lost his 84-year-old mother to COVID-19 in February.

"It's our brothers, our sisters. It's people we know," he added. "And if you don't have that human factor right in your face, it's very easy to make it abstract.

The bleak milesto...