United News of Bangladesh

As the Coronavirus keeps spreading, the global death toll from the virus reached 2.8 million on Thursday.   The total case count reached 128,791,500 while the death toll mounted to 2,814,899 as of Thursday morning, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The US, the worst-hit country in terms of active patients and deaths, has so far recorded 30,459,483 cases and 552,038 fatalities, as per the university data. The North American country surpassed the grime milestone of 30 million confirmed Covid cases. Brazil has logged 321,515 Covid-19 deaths, with a daily average of more than 2,500 deaths in March, making it a global epicenter of the pandemic. Brazil reported a record daily Covid-19 death toll of 3,869 on Wednesday, its Health Ministry said.    In addition, Covid-19 cases in Brazil rose to 12,748,747 after 90,638 new cases were reported. Also read: Global Covid cases near 118 million India's Covid tally rose to 12,149,335 on Wednesday as 53,480 new cases were reported from across the country, according to the latest figures released by its federal health ministry. Besides, 354 deaths had also been reported since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 162,468. Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh recorded 52 Coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Wednesday, the highest single-day death toll since the pandemic hit the country. Besides, the country’s health authorities recorded over 5,000 fresh cases for the third straight day. The latest figures showed 5,358 new cases in a 24-hour period until morning, which pushed up the caseload to 611,295, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Besides, the coronavirus fatalities reached 9,046 with the new deaths. Also Read:  Global Covid-19 cases approaching 114 million Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. Stronger protective steps The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued an 18-point directive on Monday for the next two weeks to contain the spread of coronavirus. On the same day, the Health Ministry also proposed partial lockdowns for some places with higher Covid-19 transmission rates. Other recommendations by the Health Ministry include closure of amusement centres, picnic spots, religious gatherings, limiting wedding ceremonies, strengthening quarantine systems, limiting passengers in public transports, and limiting attendance in offices. It also suggested strong enforcement of the ‘no mask no service’ policy, increasing numbers of mobile courts and slapping fines on health guideline violators. Vaccination drive Also Read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Daily death toll, new cases rise The government rolled out a countrywide mass vaccination campaign on February 7 with doses received from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh inked an agreement with Serum in December last year for 30 million doses to be supplied between January and June this year – 5 million each month.