Global Covid-19 cases reach 116.4 million

Over 116.4 million people have been infected with Covid-19 globally as of Sunday amid worldwide mass inoculation efforts.

The total case count reached 116,468,157 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 2,586,872 as of Sunday, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.

The US, which is the world worst country in the number of cases and deaths, is approaching 29 million cases as more than 28,949,592 people have been found infected with the virus until Sunday morning.

The total death toll from the virus in the US reached  524,262.

Brazil has registered 1,555 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the nationwide death toll to 264,325, its Ministry of Health reported on Saturday.

It also reported 69,609 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease, raising the caseload to 10,938,836.

The ministry said that Brazil ended a week with high numbers of new cases and deaths, as the South American country broke its record of daily deaths on Wednesday with 1,910 fatalities.

As the country faces another wave of the pandemic, driven by the more contagious variant that was found in the state of Amazonas, many states have enacted curfews and banned non-essential business activities after reaching a critical level of capacity in hospital intensive care units

Since Jan. 17, Brazil has vaccinated more than 10 million people, with more than 8 million have received the first dose.

India’s total caseload reached 11,192,088 while the death toll from the virus stood at 157,656.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh recorded 10 more Coronavirus related deaths and 540 new cases in the last 24 hours till Saturday morning, showing a slight fall in the daily infection rate.

Some 822 people have recovered from the virus infections during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With the fresh cases, the number of total cases rose to 549,724 in the country.

The daily infection rate stood at 4.13 percent which was 4.63 percent on Friday. The overall infection rate slightly fell to 13.30 percent, which was 13.33 percent on Friday.

But the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.54 percent for the past few days, the DGHS said in a handout. So far, 501, 966 patients (91.31 percent) have recovered from the Covid-19.

Authorities have so far tested 41, 32,113 samples, including 13,082 in the past 24 hours.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

Vaccination drive in Bangladesh

Bangladesh launched its nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7.

By Wednesday, 3,460,159 people received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The second dose has to be taken between 8 and 12 weeks of the first one.

The government is providing the vaccine for free. It signed an agreement with India's Serum Institute for 30 million doses of the vaccine.

The institute will provide five million doses every month between January and June.

The people, who are 40 or above, can register for getting vaccinated at www.surokkha.gov.bd as the on-spot registration system has been revoked.

Besides, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that the age limit for getting the coronavirus vaccine will be revised once more vaccine doses are available in the country.