The overall number of Covid cases has surged past 248 million amid the global race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 248, 041,490 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,021, 129 on Thursday morning.

The US has recorded 46,252, 631 cases to date and more than 750,410 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 21,835,785 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 608,235.

Besides, daily coronavirus cases and deaths in Russia remained at their highest numbers of the pandemic Wednesday as more regions announced extending existing restrictions in an effort to tame the country’s unrelenting surge of infections, reports AP.

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Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 40,443 new confirmed cases from a day earlier. It was the fifth time in seven days that the country reported more than 40,000 infections. The task force also reported a daily record of 1,189 Covid-19 deaths.

According to JHU data, Russia registered 8,494,589 cases as of Thursday, with 237,619 deaths.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 34,308,140 on Wednesday, as 11,903 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry's latest data.

Besides, 311 more deaths were recorded since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 459,191.

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Situation in Bangladesh  

As the vaccination drive continues, the Covid-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh largely remained static, with health authorities reporting the deaths of seven more people and infections of 256 in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.

The daily case positivity rate increased to 1.31 percent from Tuesday’s 1.14 percent.

However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 percent.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,523 samples, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Three of the deceased were men and two women.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid-19 fatalities reached 27,880 while the caseload climbed to 1,570,238, according to DGHS.

Also, the recovery rate climbed to 97.70 percent, with the recovery of 237 more patients during the period.

Forty-five Covid-related deaths were reported in the country on the 43th epidemiological week of pandemic from October 25 to 31.

Thirty-nine of them did not receive any Covid vaccine, while six were vaccinated.

On March 18, 2020, Bangladesh logged its first Covid-19 related death.

Vaccination drive in Bangladesh

So far, 2,98,97,953 people have been fully vaccinated in the country, while 4,28,14,447 received the first dose as of Tuesday, according to DGHS.

Meanwhile, the campaign to vaccinate school students in the age group of 12-17 years against Covid-19 began in Dhaka on Monday.