The total case count and death toll now stand at 114,417,054 and 2,537,563, respectively, as per the latest data released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The US remains the world's worst-hit country, with 28,659,784 Covid cases and 514,330 deaths to date, according to the university's tally.

Also read: WHO-backed policy brief calls for action to address ‘long COVID’

The US death toll crossed 500,000 million on February 22.

In fact, the first known deaths from the virus in the US were reported in early February 2020, both of them in Santa Clara County, California. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 deaths.

The death toll hit 200,000 in September and 300,000 in December. Then it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000 and about two months to climb from 400,000 to 500,000.

Brazil ranks second worldwide after the United States in terms of the number of deaths from Covid and third in terms of the number of confirmed cases, after the United States and India.

The country has registered 10,587,001 cases and 255,720 deaths so far, as per the data.

Meanwhile, India’s total caseload reached 11,112,241 with 157,157 fatalities.

India has recorded 15,510 new infections with 106 more deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the latest official data.

Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Daily infection rate rises, 8 more die

Situation in Bangladesh

Eight more Covid-19-related deaths and 585 new cases were reported in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours till Monday morning, showing a substantial rise in its daily infection rate.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has said 873 people have recovered from the virus infection during the period.

With the updated figures, the Covid-19 fatalities have climbed to 8,416 and total infections to 546,801 in the country.

Though there has been a marginal rise in he daily infection rate, the mortality rate has remained steady at 1.54% in the past few days, the DGHS handout said.

So far, 497,797 patients (91.04%) have recovered from Covid-19.

Authorities have so far tested 40,57,597 samples, including 13,570 in the past 24 hours.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

Also read: 64% Bangladeshi say yes to Corona vaccine

Vaccination drive in Bangladesh

Bangladesh launched a countrywide coronavirus vaccination drive on February 7.

By Sunday, 3,110,525 people had received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The second dose has to be taken between 8 and 12 weeks of the first one.

The government is providing the vaccine for free. It signed an agreement with India's Serum Institute for acquiring 30 million doses of the vaccine.

The institute will provide five million doses every month between January and June.

People, who are 40 or above, can register for the vaccine at www.surokkha.gov.bd. The on-spot registration system has been scrapped.