Global Covid cases top 243 million

The number of overall Covid cases has crossed 243 million with the global race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease, UNB reports.

The global Covid fatality figure and the total case count stand at 4,943,007 and 243,320,811, respectively, as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The US has logged 45,427,365 cases and 735,800 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 21,723,559 cases as of Sunday, while its Covid death toll has risen to 605,457.

India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 34,159,562 on Saturday as 16,326 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data.

Besides, as many as 666 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 453,708.

Meanwhile, Russia has reported a record high number of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths as the country approaches a week of nonworking days aimed at stemming the sharp surge in cases.

Russia has reported 37,678 COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the highest daily count, taking the national tally to 8,205,983, the official monitoring and response center said Saturday.

The nationwide death toll from the novel coronavirus grew by 1,075, a record high since the pandemic hit the country, to 229,528. Recoveries increased by 26,077 to 7,143,137.

Besides, Ukraine’s coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe’s lowest shares of vaccinated people.

Ukrainian health authorities reported 23,785 new confirmed infections and 614 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to AP.

Situation in Bangladesh

Covid-19 claimed nine more lives and infected another 278 people in Bangladesh in 24 hours till Saturday morning.

The daily-case positivity increased slightly to 1.85 per cent from Friday’s 1.36 per cent.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid fatalities reached 27,814 while the caseload climbed to 1,567,417 in Bangladesh, according to the Directorate General of the Health services (DGHS).

Of the latest deaths, six were men and 3 were women.

The new cases were detected after testing 15,042 samples during the 24-hour period.

However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent compared to the same period.

Also, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.67 per cent, with 294 more patients getting cured.