To be precise, the Covid death toll and the total caseload stood at 1,976,509 and 92,091,033, respectively, as per the latest data released by the university.

The US remained the worst-hit country, with 384,604 deaths and 23,067,796 cases. In fact, according to an Associated Press report, Covid deaths in the US hit another one-day high at over 4,300, with the country’s attention focused largely on the fallout from the deadly uprising at the Capitol.

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The North American nation’s overall death toll from Covid is closing in fast on the number of Americans killed in World War II, about 407,000.

Confirmed infections have topped 22.8 million. Arizona and California have been among the hardest-hit states. The country is now in the most lethal phase of the outbreak yet, even as vaccines are being rolled out.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid death toll, after the US, and is experiencing a second wave of outbreaks, with cases and deaths on the rise since December.

The country’s Covid death toll reached 205,964 on Wednesday, after 1,274 more people died of the novel coronavirus disease in 24 hours.

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According to the Ministry of Health, in the same period, tests detected 60,899 new cases of infection, bringing the number of confirmed Covid cases in the country to 8,256,536.

It was the second day in a row to see more than 1,000 Covid deaths and more than 60,000 infections, after 1,110 deaths and 64,025 infections were registered on Tuesday.

Last week, Brazil set a new record with 87,843 daily cases and saw 1,524 deaths in a day, the second-highest number since the onset of the pandemic.

India's Covid tally rose to 10,495,147 on Wednesday, as 15,968 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.

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According to the data, the death toll mounted to 151,529 with 202 new deaths.

There are still 214,507 active cases in the country, while 10,129,111 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment.

Situation in Bangladesh

With 890 new Covid-19 patients detected in the past 24 hours, the total number of infections in the country rose to 524,910 until Wednesday. 

As per the latest data, the daily infection rate dropped to 5.66 percent. The country recorded  8.29% infection on January 10, 7.52 percent on January 4, and 8.18 percent on January 1.

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The country’s fatality number rose to 7,833 with 14 deaths in 24 hours. The death rate stands at 1.49 percent.

The country’s infection number reached the 500,000-mark on December 20. The first cases were reported on March 8. The death toll exceeded 7,000 on December 12.

Genomes sequence of Covid-19

Bangladesh has sequenced 304 genomes of Covid-19 so far and submitted the same to Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), Professor Dr Aftab Ali Shaikh, chairman of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), told the media on Wednesday.

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Different international organisations have praised Bangladeshi scientists for their achievements in genome sequencing of Covid-19 samples, Dr Aftab said.

However, when asked about a BCSIR scientist’s comment that a new Covid-19 strain – similar to the one recently found in the UK – was detected in Bangladesh, he said, “We are still working on it.”