.jpg )
With the world still struggling to contain the second outbreak of the pandemic, the global Covid caseload has now surged past 175 million.
The total caseload and fatalities stand at 175,181,504 and 3,780,592, respectively, as of Saturday morning. The latest figures have been released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 2,283, 660,951 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,437,110 cases, according to Johns Hopkins.
Besides, 599,175 people have lost their lives in the US to date.
Brazil on Friday reported 2,216 more deaths from Covid-19 and 85,149 new cases in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said.
The latest figures have raised the nationwide death toll and case count in the South American country to 484,235 and 17,296,118, respectively.
According to the health ministry, Brazil’s current average death stands at 1,913.
India on Friday reported 91,702 new cases in 24 hours, pushing up the national tally to 29,274,823, said the federal health ministry.
Besides, 3,403 deaths during the period have raised the fatality count to 363,079.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Friday registered 43 more coronavirus-related deaths and 2,454 fresh cases in 24 hours, with the Covid situation worsening post the detection of the Delta variant in different parts of the country.
Although district administrations have imposed restrictions in most of the frontier districts to bring the situation under control, the infection and death rates are on the rise.
The latest death toll pushed up the fatalities to 13,032. The Covid-19 death toll crossed the 12,000-mark in Bangladesh on May 11.
With the new cases, the total caseload rose to 8,22,849, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
Vaccination drive
So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got the approval for emergency use in Bangladesh.
The country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.
However, Bangladesh will get some 10.8 lakh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine soon under the COVAX initiative, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen Friday, adding that the source of this supply has not been disclosed to Bangladesh.
The country needs at least 15 lakh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine immediately.