Tuberculosis infected eight million people last year – most WHO has ever tracked

A relative adjusts the oxygen mask of a tuberculosis patient (Mahesh Kumar A/AP)

More than eight million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organisation has said, the highest number recorded since the UN health agency began keeping track.

About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world’s top infectious disease killer after being replaced by Covid-19 during the pandemic.