Amid the global scare over the rising Omicron cases, the overall number of Covid cases has now surpassed 345 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 345,747,702 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,584,037 Saturday morning.
The US has recorded 70, 166,329 cases so far and 884,489 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 38,566,027 Friday as 347,254 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Friday was the second consecutive day when over 300,000 daily cases were registered in more than eight months.
Besides, 703 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 488,396.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since last January, registered 23,766,499 cases as of Friday, while its Covid death toll rose to 622,875.
Read: Australian life expectancy rises despite COVID-19: study
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 11,434 fresh cases with 12 deaths in 24 hours till Friday morning, with the infection rate marking a sharp rise.
The positivity rate increased to 28.49 % from Thursday’s 26.37% after testing 40,423 samples, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Bangladesh last logged 11,164 cases and 264 deaths on August 10 last year, with a positivity rate of 23.54% in 24 hours.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,192 while the caseload mounted to 1,664,616 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate further declined to 1.69%.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 64 with the detection of nine more cases till Thursday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
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.
Read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: CJ hints at reverting to virtual trial proceedings
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 reported 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.
New Restrictions
All schools, colleges and universities in the country will remain closed from January 21 to February 6 in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the government announced on Friday.
The Cabinet Division issued a notification in this regard, imposing restrictions on the overall activities and movement of people in the country amid a worrying spike in Covid cases.
The notification asked all to wear masks and maintain health rules at public places like markets, shopping malls, mosques, bus stands, launch terminals, railway stations. Local authorities have been instructed to monitor and ensure compliance.