Global Covid cases top 340 million

Amid a rapid surge of Covid-19 cases across the globe with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the overall number of coronavirus cases has now surpassed 340 million.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 340,380,182 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,572,881 on Friday morning, reports news agency UNB.

The US has recorded 69,257,880 cases so far and 860,110 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 38,563,632 on Thursday, including 317,532 new cases registered in 24 hours across the South Asian country, as per the federal health ministry's latest data.

Thursday was the eighth consecutive day when more than 200,000 daily new cases were registered in India this year.

Besides, 493 deaths from the pandemic recorded since Wednesday morning took the total death toll to 488,422.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 23,588,921 cases as of Thursday, while its Covid death toll rose to 622,251.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh reported 10,888 fresh cases, with four deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning, marking a sharp rise in its infection rate.

The positivity rate in the country further increased to 26.37% from Wednesday’s 25.11% after testing 40,898 samples, according to the Directorate general of health Services (DGHS).

Bangladesh last logged 10,420 cases and 237 deaths on August 11 last year, with a positivity rate of 23.45% in 24 hours.

The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,180 while the caseload mounted to 1,653,182 on Thursday.

Among the new deceased, three were women and another man. Two each of the fresh cases were reported in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate declined to 1.70%.

However, the recovery rate further declined to 94.05% with the recovery of 577 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 55 with the detection of 22 more cases till Monday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.

On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.

The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 infections, since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.

Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 last year.