The Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world, with over 124.6 million cases and 2.7 million deaths.
The total case count reached 124,688,146 while the death toll from the virus climbed to 545,237 on Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, surpassed the grime milestone of 30 million confirmed Covid cases on Thursday. Covid-related deaths currently stand at 545,237, as per the university data.
More than 85.4 million people, or 25.7% of the US population, have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 46.3 million people, or 14% of the population, have completed their vaccination, reports AP.
Brazil topped 300,685 confirmed Covid-19 deaths on Thursday amid a spike in infections.
On Wednesday, Brazil's health ministry reported 2,009 Covid-19 deaths, bringing its pandemic total to 300,685. On Tuesday, the country saw a single-day record of 3,251 deaths.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases top 123 million
The total caseload in the South American country has now reached 12,220,011.
India’s total Covid tally surpassed 11,734,058 while the country’s death toll mounted to 160,441, as per the latest data released by the government.
A new and potentially troublesome variant of the coronavirus has been detected in India, as have variants been first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, health officials said Wednesday, reports AP.
Health Ministry officials and experts, however, cautioned against linking the variants with an ongoing surge in new infections in India.
Also read; Global Covid-19 death toll hits 2.7 million
Cases in India had been plummeting since September and life was returning to normal. But cases began spiking last month, and more than 47,000 new infections have been detected in the past 24 hours, along with 275 deaths -- the highest one-day death toll in more than four months.
Situation in Bangladesh
Covid-19 claimed 25 more lives and infected 3,567 others in the past 24 hours till Wednesday morning amid an alarming spike in cases over the past few weeks in Bangladesh.
The coronavirus fatalities rose to 8,763 with the latest figure while the new cases pushed the total infections to 580,808, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the fresh 3,537 cases, Bangladesh has seen the worst daily increase for the second consecutive day since July 15, 2020.
The free movement of people ignoring the health protocols is believed to be the reason behind the recent upsurge in cases.
The infection rate slightly dropped to 12.97 percent from 13.69 percent a day before.
The mortality rate now stands at 1.51 percent, which remained static at 1.52 percent for the past four days, the directorate said.
The DGHS media release says 527,909 patients -- 91.89 percent -- have so far recovered from the virus infection, including 1,915 in the past 24 hours.
Also read: Global Covid-19 deaths top 2.67 million
The first Covid-19 cases were reported in the country on March 8, 2020, while the first death on March 18 the same year.
Coronavirus tests are being conducted at 118 government and private hospitals in Bangladesh.
Till Wednesday, some 4,487,686 samples were tested across the country, including 27,502 in the past 24 hours.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive is underway across the country aiming to protect people from the virus infection.
So far, 4,990,232 people have been vaccinated in the country since the drive began with the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab on February 7.
In the wake of a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday announced that 3,000 more beds will be added to hospitals across the country to tackle the rising number of patients.
“The number of Covid patients need to be reduced fast. If the current rate of virus infection continues, it won’t be possible to tackle the situation with the existing arrangements,” he said.