COVID-19 cases
WHO reports sharp increase in Covid fatalities
Global Covid-19 cases are on the rise, with 3.8 million new infections confirmed in the week between July 19 and July 25, and a "sharp" rise has been reported in the number of fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
For the past week, the global cases rose by 8% compared to the previous week, which was largely attributed to substantial increases in the Americas and the Western Pacific Regions, the UN health agency said in its weekly update report.
With over 69,000, the number of Covid-19 deaths reported during the period increased by 21% week-on-week.
Read: Countries have responsibility to help scientists find Covid origin: WHO
Most of the new deaths were reported from the Americas and South-East Asia Regions, said the report.
While previous months saw decreasing Covid-19 cases worldwide, the trend has changed this month and last week saw a 12% increase in the number of cases, while deaths and spread of variants are also on the rise, the WHO said on July 21.
The UN health agency also reported that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, the global number of Covid-19 cases could reach 200 million soon.
Read: Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief
Variants are continuing their progression, as the Alpha variant was seen in 180 countries, territories or areas, and 13 new countries, territories or areas reported cases of the Delta variant.
While the Alpha variant is still detected more often than its counterpart, the Delta variant is believed by the WHO to be 50% more transmissible and might become the dominant form of the virus in the next few months.
25 more die of Covid at Rajshahi hospital
As many as 25 more Covid patients have died at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday.
Hospital director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani said that seven of the deceased were confirmed Covid patients, while 14 showed symptoms of the virus and four died due to post corona complications.
Of the deceased, 12 were from Rajshahi district, three each from Chapainawabganj, Natore and Pabna, two from Naogaon, and one each from Kushtia and Jashore districts.
"Meanwhile, 181 people have tested positive for corona at the hospital in the past 24 hours. A total of 620 samples were tested in two laboratories of the district during the period," the director said.
The positivity rate currently stands at 34.65%, which was 33.69% a day before. The infection rate was 29.63% and 25.05% on Sunday and Saturday, respectively.
Read: 12 more die of Covid at Rajshahi hospital
Shamim also said that 72 people have been admitted to the corona unit of the hospital in the past 24 hours. During the period, 54 people were discharged from the hospital after recovery.
Moreover, 500 people are currently undergoing treatment against 454 beds at the corona unit of the hospital. Of them, 20 patients are in the ICU.
Read: Rajshahi Medical sees 22 deaths in single day
Meanwhile, 248 people have died of Covid-19 and post-Covid complications in the last 14 days, while 405 people passed away at the hospital in June.
Bangladesh is now struggling with the second wave of Covid-19 as every day the country has been registering a record fresh cases and deaths.
Also read: 19 more die of Covid at Rajshahi hospital
So far, Bangladesh has recorded 10,47,155 cases with 12,198 fatalities.
US COVID-19 cases rising again, doubling over three weeks
The COVID-19 curve in the U.S. is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings.
Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And all but two states — Maine and South Dakota — reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks.
“It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend,” said Dr. Bill Powderly, co-director of the infectious-disease division at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis.
At the same time, parts of the country are running up against deep vaccine resistance, while the highly contagious mutant version of the coronavirus that was first detected in India is accounting for an ever-larger share of infections.
Read:Wildfires threaten homes, land across 10 Western states
Nationally, 55.6% of all Americans have received at least one COVID-19 shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The five states with the biggest two-week jump in cases per capita all had lower vaccination rates: Missouri, 45.9%; Arkansas, 43%; Nevada, 50.9%; Louisiana, 39.2%; and Utah, 49.5%.
Even with the latest surge, cases in the U.S. are nowhere near their peak of a quarter-million per day in January. And deaths are running at under 260 per day on average after topping out at more than 3,400 over the winter — a testament to how effectively the vaccine can prevent serious illness and death in those who happen to become infected.
Still, amid the rise, health authorities in places such as Los Angeles County and St. Louis are begging even immunized people to resume wearing masks in public. And Chicago officials announced Tuesday that unvaccinated travelers from Missouri and Arkansas must either quarantine for 10 days or have a negative COVID-19 test.
Meanwhile, the Health Department in Mississippi, which ranks dead last nationally for vaccinations, began blocking posts about COVID-19 on its Facebook page because of a “rise of misinformation” about the virus and the vaccine.
Mississippi officials are also recommending that people 65 and older and those with chronic underlying conditions stay away from large indoor gatherings because of a 150% rise in hospitalizations over the past three weeks.
In Louisiana, which also has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, officials in the city of New Orleans said Tuesday that they are likely to extend until fall virus-mitigation efforts currently in place at large sporting and entertainment gatherings, including mask mandates or requirements that attendees be vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test. State health officials said cases of the coronavirus are surging, largely among nonvaccinated people.
But the political will may not be there in many states fatigued by months of restrictions.
Read:Mystery grows with key suspect in Haiti president killing
In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is facing a drive to repeal a law that she used to set major restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic.
And Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama pushed back against the idea that the state might need to reimpose preventive measures as vaccinations lag and hospitalizations rise.
“Alabama is OPEN for business. Vaccines are readily available, and I encourage folks to get one. The state of emergency and health orders have expired. We are moving forward,” she said on social media.
Dr. James Lawler, a leader of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, said bringing back masks and limiting gatherings would help. But he acknowledged that most of the places seeing higher rates of the virus “are exactly the areas of the country that don’t want to do any of these things.”
Lawler warned that what is happening in Britain is a preview of what’s to come in the U.S.
“The descriptions from regions of the world where the delta variant has taken hold and become the predominant virus are pictures of ICUs full of 30-year-olds. That’s what the critical care doctors describe and that’s what’s coming to the U.S.,” he said.
He added: “I think people have no clue what’s about to hit us.”
Read:FDA adds warning about rare reaction to J&J COVID-19 vaccine
President Joe Biden is putting a dose of star power behind the administration’s efforts to get young people vaccinated. Eighteen-year-old actress, singer and songwriter Olivia Rodrigo will meet with Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday.
While the administration has had success vaccinating older Americans, young adults have shown less urgency to get the shots.
Some, at least, are heeding the call in Missouri after weeks of begging, said Erik Frederick, chief administrative officer of Mercy Hospital Springfield. He tweeted that the number of people getting immunized at its vaccine clinic has jumped from 150 to 250 daily.
“That gives me hope,” he said.
14 more people die of Covid-19 at RMCH
Fourteen more Covid patients have died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in the last 24 hours, health officials said on Monday.
Read:Covid: 18 more patients die at Rajshahi hospital, fresh cases drop
Of the deceased, 6 were confirmed Covid patients while the remaining eight exhibited symptoms of the virus, said hospital director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani.
Besides, 64 more new patients have been admitted to the hospital with Covid symptoms in the past 24 hours. Currently, 518 patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital which has 454 beds.
Read: Rajshahi Medical sees 22 deaths in single day
“After a decline in Covid-19 cases for the fifth straight day, the infection rate in the district is rising again. On Sunday, the authorities reported 152 new cases after testing 513 samples in two laboratories,” said Shamim.
The positivity rate climbed up to 29.63 % on Sunday with the fresh cases from Saturday’s 25.05%, a leap of 4.58%.
Khulna Division sees highest daily death toll of 32 in single day
As the Covid-19 cases and deaths keep rising in Khulna, health authorities recorded 32 more deaths in the division in 24 hours until Tuesday morning.This is the highest since June 20 when the division recorded the same number of deaths.
Read:Alarming Covid surge in Khulna division; death toll crosses 1,000Of them, 4 people died in Khulna district, 5 in Bagerhat, 4 in Kushtia, 8 in Jashore, 3 in Narail, two each in Chuadanga, Meherpur and Magura and 1 each in Jhenaidah and Satkhira.During this period, 1,367 people were infected with the deadly virus, which also shattered the daily record.So far, 54,998 people have been infected with the virus in ten districts of the division and the death toll reached 1,043.
Read: 28 more Covid deaths recorded in a day in KhulnaA total of 37,437people have recovered to date.In Khulna division, the first case of Covid-19 was detected in Chuadanga on March 19, 2020.
Biden urges shots for young adults as variant concern grows
The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to get younger Americans vaccinated for COVID-19 as the White House acknowledges it will miss two key vaccination benchmarks and as concern grows about the spread of a new variant that threatens to set the country back in the months ahead.
The delta variant, first identified in India, in the last two weeks has come to represent more than 20% of coronavirus infections in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. That’s double what it was when the CDC last reported on the variant’s prevalence.
“The delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said at a White House briefing on the virus. “Good news: Our vaccines are effective against the delta variant.”
He added: “We have the tools. So let’s use them, and crush the outbreak.”
The White House on Tuesday acknowledged that President Joe Biden will fall short of reaching his goal of vaccinating 70% of all American adults with at least one shot by Independence Day. But it tried to paint an optimistic picture nonetheless by stressing that the nation had reached that threshold for those aged 30 and older and expects to meet it for those age 27 or older by the July 4 holiday.
Read:Japan’s vaccine push ahead of Olympics looks to be too late
Biden also expects to miss a second goal — fully vaccinating 165 million adult Americans by July 4. White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients projected it will take several more weeks to hit that number. On Monday, the U.S. crossed 150 million fully vaccinated.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki rejected the idea that the missed July 4 benchmarks would represent a failure for the administration, telling reporters, “We don’t see it exactly like something went wrong.”
Still, administration officials said they were redoubling their focus on vaccinating younger Americans age 18-26, who have proved to be least likely to get a vaccine when it’s available for them.
The nationwide rate of new vaccinations has dropped off precipitously over the past month even as shots have become more available, with fewer than 300,000 Americans now getting their first dose per day on average — a pace that, if sustained, will have the U.S. not reaching Biden’s 70% goal until late July at the earliest.
Officials are also increasingly. concerned about regional variations in the vaccination program.
More than 16 states and the District of Columbia have vaccinated 70% of their adult population. But others — particularly in the South and Midwest — are lagging substantially behind, with four not having yet reached 50% vaccination rates.
Read:Virus surge claims brightest minds at Indian universities
The White House said meeting Biden’s vaccination goals is less important than the pace of the nation’s reopening, which is exceeding even its own internal projections as the overwhelming majority of the nation’s most vulnerable people are fully vaccinated and cases and deaths are at their lowest rates since the earliest days of the pandemic, averaging about 11,000 new infections and fewer than 300 deaths per day. More states are opening back up, with Michigan on Tuesday becoming the latest to do away with a mask mandate and virus restrictions. The state had the nation’s worst outbreak this spring.
“We have succeeded beyond our highest expectations,” Zeints said.
Americans at highest risk for complications from COVID-19 are overwhelmingly vaccinated, according to CDC data, but only 53% aged 25-39 have received one dose. Among those 18-24, it’s 47%.
“Where the country has more work to do is particularly with 18 to 26 year olds,” Zients said.
Zients and government experts said the rise of the delta variant should motivate younger Americans to get vaccinated.
Read: How India is changing vaccine plan amid shortages
“The reality is many younger Americans have felt like COVID-19 is not something that impacts them, and they’ve been less eager to get the shot,” Zients said. “However, with the delta variant now spreading across the country, and infecting younger people worldwide, it’s more important than ever that they get vaccinated.”
The variant is taking root as there are warning signs about a possible surge in cases in unvaccinated corners of America. Rural sections of Missouri, including Springfield and Branson, have seen a dramatic spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks that health officials attribute in part to the delta variant spreading among younger, unvaccinated residents.
“There is a danger, a real danger that if there is a persistence of a recalcitrance to getting vaccinated that you could see localized surges,” said Fauci.
Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Alabama and Idaho are all below 40% of their population with at least one dose of vaccine.
The White House planned to focus on increasingly local vaccination pushes, with first lady Jill Biden traveling Tuesday to Mississippi and Tennessee to promote vaccinations and Biden himself set to visit North Carolina on Thursday.
The variant is accounting for half of new infections in the regions that include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
New restrictions in Chattogram: Shops to close by 8 pm
All shops and markets in the port city except medical stores have been ordered to close by 8 pm from Wednesday as the administration imposed new restrictions to combat increasing corona virus.
The decision was taken on Tuesday considering the health risks posed by Covid-19, said deputy commissioner Mominur Rahman.
All types of public gatherings including mezban, wedding parties will remain suspended during this period in the district.
Restaurants and eateries will operate at half the capacity.
At least 12 mobile courts will conduct drives to ensure that people wear masks and follow health protocols. Anyone violating the restrictions face penalty,
The devotees have been asked to maintain social distance while offering prayer and enter the mosques only after hand sanitization.
Also read: 8-day lockdown in Fatikchhari begins tomorrow
The community centres located in city corporation areas and different upazilas have been warned to refrain from arranging any marriage or other social programmes and if found involved in violating the order they will be penalised.
The entrance of Patenga sea beach will also remain shut from Wednesday as no one can enter the area, said DC.
Besides, the mobile court drives of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will ensure the health guidelines on public transport.
Chattogram Civil Surgeon Dr. Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, said so far 662 people have died of Covid-19 and of them, 643 died in the city while the rest died in different upazilas of the district.
Covid-19 situation
As the Coronavirus situation continues to worsen in Bangladesh creating new hotspots outside capital Dhaka, health authorities logged 4,846 more new cases with a positivity rate of 19.36% in 24 hours until Tuesday morning.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 76 more deaths, 4,846 fresh cases
The positivity rate in the country rose to 19.36% from Monday’s 19.27 per cent, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, the deadly virus claimed the lives of 76 more people during the 24-hour period, bringing the national tally to 13,702.
The fresh cases pushed up the total caseload to 8,61,150, the handout added.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.59%.
As COVID-19 cases wane, vaccine-lagging in USA still see risk
New COVID-19 cases are declining across the United States, even in some states with vaccine-hesitant populations. But almost all states bucking that trend have lower-than-average vaccination rates, and experts warn that relief from the pandemic could be fleeting in regions where few people get inoculated.
Case totals nationally have declined in a week from a seven-day average of nearly 21,000 on May 29 to 14,315 on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. For weeks, states and cities have been dropping virus restrictions and mask mandates, even indoors.
Experts said some states are seeing increased immunity because there were high rates of natural spread of the disease, which has so far killed nearly 600,000 Americans.
“We certainly are getting some population benefit from our previous cases, but we paid for it,” said Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. “We paid for it with deaths.”
Also read: Biden urges G-7 leaders to call out and compete with China
More than 7,300 Mississippians have died in the pandemic, and the state has the sixth-highest per capita death rate.
Dobbs estimated that about 60% of the state’s residents have “some underlying immunity.”
“So we’re now sort of seeing that effect, most likely, because we have a combination of natural and vaccine-induced immunity,” Dobbs said.
Just eight states — Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — have seen their seven-day rolling averages for infection rates rise from two weeks earlier, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. All of them except Hawaii have recorded vaccination rates that are lower than the US average of 43% fully vaccinated, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Also read: G-7 nations expected to pledge 1B vaccine doses for world
The 10 states with the fewest new cases per capita over that time frame all have fully vaccinated rates above the national average.
Medical experts said a host of factors is playing into the drop in case counts across the country, including vaccines, natural immunity from exposure to the virus, warmer weather and people spending less time indoors.
But Dr. Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University, said she is concerned that the natural immunity of those who have been exposed to coronavirus may soon wane. And she’s worried that states with low vaccination rates could become hot spots.
“Just because we’re lucky in June doesn’t mean we’ll continue to be lucky come the late fall and winter,” said Wen, the former health commissioner for the city of Baltimore. “We could well have variants here that are more transmissible, more virulent and those who do not have immunity or have waning immunity could be susceptible once again.”
Also read: G-7 to put off agreement on when to end coal-fired power generation
In Mississippi, about 835,000 people have been fully vaccinated, or 28% of the population. But despite the lagging vaccination rate, the state’s rolling average of daily new cases over the past two weeks has decreased by about 18%, according to Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Albert Ko, who chairs Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at Yale, said there is no accurate data to show what percentage of the population in “high burden” states such as Alabama or Texas have been exposed to the virus, but he said estimates have put it as high as 50%.
“I think it doesn’t deny the importance of vaccination, particularly because the levels of antibodies that you get that are induced by natural infection are lower than that of what we have for our best vaccine,” Ko said.
Ko said it is important that even those exposed to the disease get vaccinated because natural immunity does not last as long as vaccine immunity and the levels of antibodies are lower.
Wen said research strongly suggests that vaccinations provide a benefit to those who already have some antibodies due to infection.
“I think it is a fallacy that many people have that recovery means they no longer need to be vaccinated,” she said.
Global Covid caseload top 174 million
Amid emergence of new variants and efforts to achieve vaccine equality, the global Covid-19 caseload has crossed the 174-million mark.
The global case count and fatalities stand at 174,766,343 and 3,769,345 respectively as of Friday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
To date, some 2,242, 825,732 people have been vaccinated globally, as per JHU data.
Also read: India reports record high of 6,148 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,427,489 cases and 598,728 deaths, Johns Hopkins figures reveal.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 29,273,338 on Friday with 91,266 new cases reported in 24 hours, said the federal Health Ministry of Inida.
India reported a record high of 6,148 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday.
However, the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 24 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Besides, the new fatalities pushed up the death toll to 363,097, according to the Ministry.
Brazil registered 3,402 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 482,135, the health ministry said on Thursday.
A total of 89,802 new infections were detected during the period, raising the national caseload to 17,215,159, the ministry said.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, behind the U.S. and India.
Also read: Haiti fights large COVID-19 spike as it awaits vaccines
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Thursday registered 36 more coronavirus-related deaths and 2,537 fresh cases in 24 hours, with the Covid situation worsening post the detection of the Delta variant in different parts of the country.
Although district administrations have imposed restrictions in most of the frontier districts to bring the situation under control, the infection and death rates are on the rise.
The latest death toll pushed up the fatalities to 12,949. The Covid-19 death toll crossed the 12,000-mark in Bangladesh on May 11.
With the new cases, the total caseload rose to 8,17,819, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 38 more deaths, 1,676 new cases
Amid the growing concern over the spread of Delta variant, 38 more people died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Sunday morning, putting the death toll at 12,839.
Besides, 1,676 more people found positive for the virus after testing 15,613 samples during the period, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new infections pushed up the total caseload to 8,10, 990, while the positivity rate fell to 10.73% today from Saturday’s 11.03% and the mortality rate remained static at 1.58%, said the DGHS.
Also read: 7 cases of Indian Covid variant detected in Nawabganj: Doctor
As of now, 7,51, 322 people have recovered from the virus putting the recovery rate at 92.64%.
Of the deceased, 25 were male and 13 were female today.
Bangladesh reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Also read: Covid cases rising in Thakurgaon; 17 more detected