With new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several parts of the world, the global corona cases are now approaching 173 million. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total global case count reached 172,859, 512 while the death toll climbed to 3,718,408 on Sunday morning. The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, have recorded 33,057,380 cases with 597,377 fatalities to date, as per the JHU data. Neighbouring India’s total Covid case count is fast approaching the 29-million mark. The country’s caseload and fatalities stand at 28,694, 879 and 344,082, respectively, as of Sunday morning. Brazil registered 1,689 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 472,531, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday. READ: Global Covid deaths top 3.5 million A total of 66,017 new infections were detected, raising the caseload to 16,907,425, 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 United States and India. Situation in Bangladesh As Coronavirus-related deaths and infections keep growing in Bangladesh, the country recorded 43 more deaths in the past 24 hours till Saturday morning. Besides, 1,447 new cases were registered during the period, taking the country's caseload to 809,314. With the latest death toll, the total number of fatalities rose to 12,801. READ: Global Covid-19 cases hit 168 million Bangladesh reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. Lockdown in districts Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in frontier districts, district administrations have imposed lockdowns in Rajshahi, Khulna, Satkhira, Chapainawabganj, Teknaf upazila, five Rohingya camps and parts of Naogaon, Noakhali districts to curb the transmission of the virus. The district administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdowns in their areas if the Covid-19 situation worsens. Vaccination drive Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India's Serum Institute. Covid-19: Bangladesh registers 43 more deaths; positivity rate hits 11.03% So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got the authorisation for emergency use in the country. Meanwhile, seven million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine reached Bangladesh, and the governments of India and China gave 3.2 million doses and 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine as gifts. However, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.

 With the new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several nations, the global corona cases have now topped 170 million.   According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities surged to 170,188,075 and 3,537,835, respectively, till Monday morning.   Until date, 1,864,810,057  (1.86 billion) vaccine doses have been administered across the world.   The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,258,623 infections and 594,430 fatalities, respectively, as per the JHU data.   Brazil on Sunday reported 874 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the national count to 461,931, the Ministry of Health said.   A total of 43,520 more infections were detected, raising the nationwide tally to 16,515,120, the ministry said.   Brazil has the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, following the United States and India.   Meanwhile, India has recorded 27,894, 800 cases as of Monday morning, with 325,972 fatalities.   India’s hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and the shortage of oxygen is only intensifying the woes of patients and their relatives. Also read: Covid-19: 34 more die in Bangladesh as positivity rate jumps to 10.11%   Situation in Bangladesh   As the Covid-19 still remains grim in Bangladesh, it recorded 34 more Coronavirus-related deaths and 1,444 new cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning.   The latest figures pushed up the total fatalities to 12,583.   The new infections were detected after carrying out 14,277 sample tests, as the daily infection rate jumped above 10 percent once again.   Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.   Also read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until June 6 The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week until June 6 to stem the spread of Coronavirus.   On Sunday, the Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard.     Vaccination Drive   Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.   Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.   However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has said that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by early May.   In the past 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, according to the DGHS handout.   Also Read:Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS   So far, a total of 72,48,829 people have received the vaccine, of which 31,06709 got their second dose.      

With new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several parts of the world, the global caseload is fast approaching 154 million. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total global case count reached 153,958,048 while the death toll climbed to 3,203,500 on Wednesday morning. The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, have recorded 32,510,922 cases with 578,407 fatalities to data, as per the JHU data. After the United States, the second outbreak of Covid has hit India hard. India’s Covid-19 cases surpassed 20 million on Tuesday as the second wave continued to paralyse the health system of the country. With shortage of oxygen in many hospitals, India is trying hard to overcome the situation. The country’s total caseload and fatalities currently stand at 20,282,833 and 222,408, respectively. Brazil on Tuesday reported 2,966 new deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 411,588, according to its health ministry. Meanwhile, 77,359 new Covid-19 cases were detected, bringing the accumulated caseload to 14,856,888. Brazil now has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India. Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 142 million According to the health ministry, Brazil now has a rate of 196 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and 7,070 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants. Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh logged 61 more coronavirus-related deaths and 1,914 new cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, showing a slight downtrend in daily fatalities and an uptick in infections. The latest figures pushed up the death toll to 11,705 and the caseload to 7,65,596, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). However, the infection rate fell to 8.71 percent from Monday’s 8.95 percent while the fatality rate rose to 1.53 percent. Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year, before confirming the first death 10 days later. Lockdown continues till May 16 The ongoing lockdown, imposed on April 5, has been extended till May 16. People, however, are hardly following health safety rules. They are still crowding shopping malls and markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival of the Muslims. Also read: Covid claims 61 more lives, infects 1,914 others in Bangladesh Photos and videos shot by UNB lensmen show overcrowded shopping places and total indifference towards health guidelines. There will hardly be any positive outcome if  people don’t follow health rules to protect themselves and others around them from coronavirus, according to experts. Meanwhile, intra-district public transport services will be allowed to resume from May 6. Vaccination drive Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine it acquired from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain. DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by the first week of May. In the past 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 the second dose of the Covid vaccine, said the DGHS handout. However, the registration process for receiving the vaccine jab remains shut.  

What if COVID-19 never goes away?