The coronavirus pandemic’s global toll is often talked about as a number - 2,000 dead. 15,000. 50,000. 100,000, and ever growing. Behind each one is a story, of a life well lived or cut short, of love, of perseverance, of heartache, of dancing, of laughter, of sacrifice, of bucket lists, of generosity.

Associated Press reporters around the world are working to capture these stories in a series called “Lives Lost.” Each is told individually, often with audio remembrances and photos from family members.

They are the stories of ordinary people who have sometimes done extraordinary things, or have had a profound impact on the loved ones they left behind or the communities they helped to build. When the pandemic is over, and life returns to normal, the biggest scar will be all the lives lost.

Here are just a few of them - a virtual scrapbook of a life:

“We will need 100 years to have someone like Dr. Yassin.”

THE EPIDEMIOLOGIST - YEMEN

For five decades, Yassin Abdel-Wareth was one of a handful of epidemiologists in Yemen, hunting for disease outbreaks that are as endemic as armed conflicts in the Middle East’s poorest nation. He had seen many diseases such as cholera, malaria, Rift Valley fever and, in early June, his last: the new coronavirus. The doctor-turned-epidemiologist, 72, was remembered as a generous, kind-hearted man who protected his family from Yemen’s ultraconservative society and a tireless doctor with an encyclopedic memory who navigated the country’s tribal and regional fault lines to educate Yemenis about disease.

Learn more about Abdel-Wareth’s work.

“She would celebrate anybody.”

THE GENEROUS AUNTIE - CALIFORNIA

For her family, Lydia Nunez was the center of the party. The 34-year-old loved to dance, cook and help take care of her two nieces and two nephews. One of her signature phrases was: “Where’s the party at?” While she had health problems related to diabetes, she never let them define her. On the contrary, she always tried to lift the spirits of those around her. In high school, she asked her mother for extra money so she could throw a birthday celebration for a classmate who wasn’t going to have one because his parents were divorced.

Read more on Nunez’s life. 

“She was young, strong, brave.”

THE MIGRANT - VENEZUELA

Yurancy Castillo did not want to leave her family. But as inflation in Venezuela soared, rendering her salary as a social worker nearly worthless, the young woman known for her beaming smile and wild amber-colored curls decided her future rested far away, in Peru. Those dreams would be stifled time and again. In Peru, she found jobs selling sewing machines and waitressing, but they paid little. Peruvians frequently cast cold looks and cruel remarks in her direction. But the biggest thief of dreams proved a diminutive, silent foe: COVID-19.

Read about Castillo’s journey.

“She was a magnet.”

THE SHAKESPEARE LADY - CONNECTICUT

She had all the makings of a rising star, someone who wrote, directed and acted in her own plays in her 20s and attended one of the country’s top drama schools around the same time as Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver. But unlike those stars, Margaret Holloway never made it to Broadway or Hollywood. Instead, the 68-year-old’s stage was the New Haven, Connecticut, streets where she lived and became known as “The Shakespeare Lady” for her gritty, intense, colorful and sometimes over-the-top performances of the bard’s “Macbeth” and “Hamlet.” Often homeless and hobbled by drug addiction and mental illness, she spent decades on and off the streets. But her performances almost always left an impression.

Read more on Holloway’s street performances and art.