Bangladesh reported 16 new Covid-19 deaths on Monday, taking the national death tally to 8,221.

The mortality rate in the country now stands at 1.53 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in a handout.

Bangladesh witnessed a daily infection rate of 2.30 percent with 316 new cases in the last 24 hours, pushing up the caseload to 538,378.

Earlier, on January 1, the daily infection rate was 8.18 percent.

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So far, 3,762,774 tests, including 13,762 new ones, have been carried out since the first cases were reported on March 8.

The overall infection rate now stands at 14.31 percent. However, 483,931 patients – 89.89 percent – have recovered so far, the DGHS said.

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

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Covid-19 global scenario

The global Covid-19 cases surpassed 106 million on Monday.

The total case count reached 106,056,229 while the deaths from the virus infection touched 2,315,156 this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The total cases in the US, which remained the globe's worst-hit country crossed 27 million on Monday as the country’s caseload reached 27,004,529 with 463,433 deaths.

Brazil’s nationwide tally reached 9,447,165 and the country registered 230,034 deaths.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload following the United States and India. Brazil's national vaccination program began in mid-January and so far around 3.5 million people have been inoculated.

India’s total tally stood 10,826,363 with 154,996 fatalities on Monday.

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Vaccination in Bangladesh

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday said the people aged over 40 will be vaccinated first.

The people who are above 40 years of age and the family members of those who got vaccinated will be allowed to get their jabs first.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque verbally ordered the authorities concerned to take steps in this regard, said Maidul Islam Prodhan, senior information officer of the Health Ministry.

The government rolled out a countrywide mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on Sunday. The vaccine will be administered at 1,005 centers across the country.

According to the DGHS, 50 booths have been set up in 50 hospitals in Dhaka while a total of 204 teams of health workers will administer the vaccine.

Besides, the Health Minister said, vaccine shots have been provided to 955 hospitals in different parts of the country on the first day of mass inoculation drive and some 2,196 teams are working to make the drive a success.