The government has not yet taken any decision to enforce lockdown again in the country for curbing the transmission of Coronavirus, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Thursday.

Bangladesh registered 16 more Covid-19-related deaths and 2,187 new cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning as the deadly virus keeps spreading fast. 

Ten European Union returnees have so far been detected with the new strain of Covid-19 that was first reported in the UK, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Wednesday.

The world has crossed the grim milestone of 120 million Covid-19 cases -- a figure that shows the pandemic is far from over, despite high rates of vaccination.

The Directorate General of Health Services in a statement Monday said there is no risk of testing Covid-19 positive as a result of taking the Covid-19 vaccine shot.

Bangladesh vaccinated 95,675 more people against Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

India is expanding its COVID-19 vaccination drive beyond health care and front-line workers, offering the shots to older people and those with medical conditions that put them at risk. Among the first to be inoculated on Monday was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sheikh Rehana, the youngest daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and sister of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday.

The number of global Covid-19 cases exceeded 109.9 million on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The fresh cases of Covid-19 and deaths caused by the deadly virus marked a rise in Bangladesh as the country’s health authorities recorded 16 more deaths and 443 new cases in the last 24 hours till Wednesday morning.