Eight coronavirus-related deaths and 406 new cases were recorded until morning. On Thursday, 15 deaths and 391 fresh cases were reported.

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

The daily infection rate jumped to 2.85% on Friday which was 2.68% on Thursday, according to data released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

So far, 542,674 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed with 8,337 fatalities.

According to the latest figures, the overall infection rate stood at 13.83% which was 13.87% percent on Thursday. It is expected to fall further as a countrywide coronavirus vaccination drive is underway.

But the mortality rate rose to 1.54% from 1.53% on Friday, the DGHS handout said.

So far, 490,468 patients (90.38%) have recovered from Covid-19.

The authorities have tested 3,922,489 samples until today – 14,232 in the past 24 hours.

Also read:  How do we know the COVID-19 vaccines are safe?

Vaccination in Bangladesh

The countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive kicked off on February 7.

Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd, the world’s largest vaccine maker, for 30 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Serum will send five million doses each month between January and June.

Five million doses arrived in January and India gifted another two million doses as gift.

The government, determined to make the vaccination driver a success, brought down the age to 40 for registration to get jabs. The doses are being provided for free.

So far, 181,546 people have received the first shot. After the first dose, the second one has to be taken within 8 to 12 weeks.

Also read: Bangladesh to get Covid vaccines for 4.5 crore people by May

Global Covid-19 Situation

The global corona caseload has now surged past 110 million.

The global case count reached 110,377,466 while the death toll from the deadly virus mounted to 2,443,302 deaths on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The US has so far recorded 27,896,535 cases and 493,119 deaths, as per the data.

The US is vaccinating an average of 1.7 million Americans per day against Covid-19, up from under 1 million a month ago.

India's Covid tally rose to 10,963,394 on Friday, while the death toll mounted to 156,111, according to the figures.

Brazil registered 10,030,626 Covid-19 infections and 243,457 deaths until Friday.

Brazil as the third country crossed 10 million Covid-19 infections on Thursday.

With this Brazil continues to ranks third in the world in Covid-19 cases, after the United States and India, and second in deaths behind the US.

Also read: COVID infections drop 16% worldwide in one week: WHO

UN criticism on vaccine distribution

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticised the “wildly uneven and unfair” distribution of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, saying 10 countries have administered 75% of all vaccinations.

He demanded a global effort to get all people in every nation vaccinated as soon as possible, reports AP.

The UN chief told a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council that 130 countries have not received a single dose of vaccine and declared that “at this critical moment, vaccine equity is the biggest moral test before the global community.”

Guterres called for an urgent Global Vaccination Plan to bring together those with the power to ensure equitable vaccine distribution.