The world hit another grim Covid-19 milestone on Saturday, as the total caseload surpassed 130 million. According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count reached 130,126,796 while the death toll from the deadly virus climbed to 2,836,682 on Saturday morning. The US has so far logged 30,606,648 cases, with 554,069 fatalities. The North American country has been sowing the world's highest number of cases and deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. In Brazil, a total of 12,910,082 people have so far been found infected with the virus. The death toll in the country stood at 328,206 as Saturday morning, as per the university data. In March alone, as many as 66,868 people died of Covid-19 in the Latin America's largest and most populous country. Also read; Global Covid-19 death toll hits 2.7 million Mexico is the third worst-hit country in the world in terms of deaths, as it has recorded 203,664 deaths as of Saturday morning. India’s total caseload and fatalities currently stand at 12,303,131 and 163,396, respectively, as per official figures. Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December 2019. To date, countries around the world have reported 130 million cases and 2.8 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data. Several vaccines have been developed to fight the virus. Those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca are among them. Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh Friday recorded more than 6,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in the row, as the government ramps up efforts to contain the transmission of the virus. Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports highest daily cases in 9 months It was the fourth time in five days that Bangladesh reported its highest daily coronavirus cases, when the health authorities confirmed 6,830 new infections on Friday afternoon. On Wednesday, the number of new cases was 5,358. It was 5,042 on Tuesday and 5,181 on Monday. There is hardly any bed available at hospitals treating coronavirus patients. The government is increasing the number of beds and Covid-designated hospitals to deal with the situation. Bangladesh has so far recorded 624,594 coronavirus cases, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). During the 24-hour period until Friday morning, 2,473 patients recovered, taking the number of recoveries to 547,411. Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and confirmed the first death from the virus 10 days later. Meanwhile, the fatalities reached 9,155 Friday, with 50 new deaths. The mortality rate now stands at 1.47 percent. Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 6,000+ cases for 2nd straight day Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. Govt strengthens protective steps The daily surge prompted the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to issue an 18-point directive on March 29 to prevent the transmission of the virus. On the same day, the Health Ministry proposed strict measures like partial lockdowns for some places with higher Covid-19 transmission rates. Other recommendations made by the ministry include closure of amusement centres and picnic spots, ban on religious gatherings, limiting wedding ceremonies, strengthening quarantine systems, limiting passengers in public transport, and limiting attendance in offices. It also suggested strong enforcement of the ‘no mask, no service’ policy, increasing the number of mobile courts and slapping fines on health guideline violators. Authorities in various districts have shut down amusement centres and are urging people to wear masks. But a large number of people are still reluctant to follow Covid protocols, putting themselves as well as others around them at risk. Vaccination drive The government launched a countrywide 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 acquiring 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Serum is supposed to supply the doses between January and June this year – 5 million each month.