Amid the global scare over the rising Omicron cases, the overall number of coronavirus cases has now surged past 302 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 302,679,314 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,478,980 Saturday morning.
The US has recorded 59,166,756 cases so far and more than 836,477 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
Hospitalisations of US children under five with Covid-19 soared in recent weeks to their highest level since the pandemic began, according to government data released Friday on the only age group not yet eligible for the vaccine, reports AP.
The worrisome trend in children too young to be vaccinated underscores the need for older kids and adults to get their shots to help protect those around them, said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since mid-December, with the highly contagious Omicron variant spreading furiously around the country, the hospitalisation rate in these youngest kids has surged to more than four in 100,000 children, up from 2.5 per 100,000.
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Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January last year, registered 22,328,252 cases as of Friday, while its Covid death toll rose to 619,654.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 35,226,386 on Friday, as 117,100 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 302 more deaths were recorded since Thursday morning, taking the death toll to 483,178.
Situation in Bangladesh
Amid a new surge in the virus, Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death and 1,146 fresh cases in 24 hours till Friday morning, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the detection of fresh cases after testing 20,890 samples, the daily case positivity rose to 5.67 percent from Thursday’s 4.86 percent during the period, according to the directorate.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,098 while the caseload mounted to 15,91,093.
The mortality rate remained static at 1.77 percent during the period.
READ: Global Covid cases near 300 million
Besides, the recovery rate further declined to 97.45 percent with the recovery of 170 more patients during the 24-hour period.
Bangladesh is currently seeing a surge of Covid-19 cases as health authorities logged 5,557 infections in the last seven days till Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 20, with the detection of 10 cases on Friday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
Bangladesh’s daily cases last crossed 1,100 on September 29, 2021, with the registering of 1,178 cases and 17 deaths.
On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh logged the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 last year.