The pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world. And with new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several nations, the global corona cases have now topped 154.7 million.

In fact, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities surged to 154,788,122 and 3,237,808, respectively, on Thursday.

The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, has so far logged 32,557,299 infections and 579,265 fatalities, respectively, as per the JHU data.

The Centers for Disease Control is now reporting an average of about 350,000 new cases each week, 35,000 hospitalisations and over 4,000 deaths, reports AP.

With Covid-19 deaths, hospitalisations and cases plummeting since January, many states and cities are already moving to ease or lift restrictions on restaurants, bars, theaters and other businesses and talking about getting back to something close to normal this summer.

Also Read:Global Covid cases near 154 million

Brazil registered 2,811 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 414,399, the Ministry of Health reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, tests detected 73,295 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 14,930,183.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.

Meanwhile, India has recorded 20,665,148 cases as of Thursday morning, with 226,188 fatalities.

India’s hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and the shortage of oxygen is only intensifying the woes of patients and their relatives.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Wednesday recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.

With the new death data, the mortality from coronavirus has risen to 11,755, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.

Also Read:Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50

Health authorities recorded 1,742 new infections during the period, pushing up the caseload to 7,67,338.

Vaccination Drive

Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.

Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.

However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has said that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by early May.

In the past 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, according to the DGHS handout.

Also Read:Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS

So far, a total of 72,48,829 people have received the vaccine, of which 31,06709 got their second dose.

Lockdown extended

The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.

According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.

Also Read:Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays

Inter-district transport services will remain suspended, while only intra-district transport services will operate adhering to health guidelines from Thursday.

However, launch and train services will remain suspended.