Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19 cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their shots. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also said he doesn’t foresee additional lockdowns in the U.S. because he believes enough people are vaccinated to avoid a recurrence of last winter. However, he said not enough are inoculated to “crush the outbreak” at this point. Read:Global Covid situation worsening as cases near 198 million Fauci’s warning comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course to recommend that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the delta variant is fueling infection surges. With the switch, federal health officials have cited studies showing vaccinated people can spread the virus to others. Most new infections in the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. So-called breakthrough infections can occur in vaccinated people, and though the vast majority of those cause mild or no symptoms, the research shows they can carry about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots. “So we’re looking, not, I believe, to lockdown, but we’re looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we’re seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this would not be happening,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.” According to data through July 30 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. rose from 30,887 on July 16 to 77,827 on July 30. The seven-day rolling average for the country’s daily new deaths rose over the same period from 253 on July 16 to 358 on July 30, though death reports generally lag weeks after infections and even longer after hospitalizations. Currently, 58% of Americans 12 years and older are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC’s data tracker. Read: Global Covid cases top 197mn as Delta variant presents new challenges However, people are “getting the message” and more are rolling up their sleeves amid the threat of the delta variant, according to the director of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Francis Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that vaccinations are up 56% in the U.S. in the last two weeks. Louisiana, which has the most new cases per capita among states in the past 14 days, has seen vaccinations up threefold over that period, Collins said. “That’s what desperately needs to happen if we are going to get this delta variant put back in its place, because right now it’s having a pretty big party in the middle of the country,” Collins said. Collins also said that even with the prevalence of the delta variant, the shots are working “extremely well” and reduce a person’s risk of serious illness and hospitalization “25-fold.” The guidance for vaccinated people to start wearing masks indoors again in certain places with worsening outbreaks, he said, is mostly meant to protect unvaccinated and immunocompromised people. The CDC has also recommended indoor mask-wearing for all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status.

With the worsening Covid-19 situation, the global cases is nearing 147 million with more than 3.10 million fatalities. According to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count reached 146,830,782 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 3,106,384. Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 142 million The US has registered 32,077, 076 cases with 572,200 fatalities.India has been experiencing a devastating Covid-19 situation with a recording of more than 300,000 cases every day. India’s total tally reached 16,960,172 while the death toll from the virus climbed to 192,311. The unfolding crisis is most visceral in India’s overwhelmed graveyards and crematoriums, and in heartbreaking images of gasping patients dying on their way to hospitals due to lack of oxygen, reports AP. Burial grounds in the capital New Delhi are running out of space. Bright, glowing funeral pyres light up the night sky in other badly hit cities. Brazil's Covid-19 death toll on Sunday reached 390,797 after registering another 1,305 fatalities, the country's ministry of health reported. Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 138 million According to the ministry, another 32,572 cases were registered, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 14,340,787. Since the beginning of this year, the country has been facing a new wave of the virus, which has resulted in the collapse of a large part of its healthcare system. Situation in Bangladesh After a slight fall for several days, Bangladesh’s daily coronavirus death toll crossed the 100-mark again on Sunday with a sharp fall in new cases. Fatalities climbed to 11,053 with 101 deaths in the past 24 hours until the morning. The virus also infected 2,922 people, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout. The daily infection rate rose to 13.33 percent from Saturday’s 13.11 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.48 percent. Bangladesh has so far confirmed 745,322 coronavirus cases.Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. Vaccination campaign Bangladesh launched a vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd. Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the vaccine doses uncertain. The administering of the first dose will remain suspended from April 26, DGHS said today.DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May. So far, 5,798,880 people have received the first dose and 2,155,296 have got their second jab, according to official figures.

  India on Thursday recorded the world's highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases, with over three lakh fresh infections in the past 24 hours.   According to the Indian Health Ministry, as many as 3,15,660 cases and 2,091 deaths were registered in the country in 24 hours as of April 21 midnight.   To date, no country in the world has reported such a high number of active Covid cases in a single day. Prior to India, only the US logged a little over 3 lakh cases in a single day, on January 2, 2021.   With the new infections and deaths, India's total caseload has now reached 1,59,24,914 while the fatalities from the infection have mounted to 1,84,662.   Maharashtra in western India is the country's worst-hit state, with 67,468 fresh infections in a single day -- thus accounting for nearly 22% of the new cases. Also Read: India continues to record over 200,000 new COVID-19 cases   Maharashtra, where a strict lockdown has been enforced to contain the spread of Covid, is followed by Uttar Pradesh in northern India, with 33,214 new cases, and Delhi with 24,638 fresh infections.   The country is, in fact, witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid and has been reporting over 2 lakh new cases daily since April 15.   On Wednesday, the High Court in Delhi lashed out at the federal government for for the shortage of oxygen at hospitals in the national capital. "We don't care... beg, borrow, steal or requisition new plants if you want," the court told the government. Also Read:India sees new record of 184,372 COVID-19 cases in 24 hrs   The court also took cognizance of the deaths of as many as 24 Covid-19 patients due to disruption in oxygen supply at a government hospital in Maharashtra.   Those who lost their lives at Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital in the state's Nashik district were on life support.    In fact, oxygen supply to the Covid ward at the hospital ran out following leakage of the life-supporting gas from a tanker that was brought to replenish the cylinders at the medical facility.   UNB had earlier reported about the oxygen crisis in India, particularly in the national capital.          

Covid-19 variants seem to be spreading around the world like wildfire, even with mass inoculations underway. The overall number of coronavirus cases has now topped the grim milestone of 142 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. The total case count and fatalities stand at 142,642,783 and 3,041,541, respectively, as of Wednesday morning, as per the university data. The US, India and Brazil are the worst-affected countries in terms of confirmed cases, followed by France, Russia and the UK. Also Read: Covid-19: Global cases near 142 million, deaths top 3 million The US has registered 31,792,013 cases as of Wednesday morning, while the death toll from the virus has now climbed to 568,460, according to Johns Hopkins statistics. Neighbouring India, which has been logging more than two lakh new cases daily for the past several days, on Tuesday recorded a whopping 15,321,089 cases and 180,530 fatalities in 24 hours, the country's government said. In Brazil, the total caseload has reached 14,043,076 while 378,003 people have died from the virus so far. France has recorded 5,401,305 cases, while Russia and the UK have registered 4,665,553 and 4,408,644 infections, respectively, to date.   Situation in Bangladesh After recording over 100 daily Covid-19 deaths for four consecutive days, Bangladesh registered 91 more fatalities in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, showing a marginal fall in the fatality figures. Besides, 4,559 people got infected by the deadly virus during the period, said a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) handout. On Monday, the country broke all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths, registering 112 fatalities. The latest figure pushed up the death tally to 10,588, with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year. Health authorities have so far confirmed 727,780 cases. Among them, 628,111 people -- 86.31 percent of all patients -- have recovered.   Lockdown A ‘strict’ lockdown is currently underway across the country, but people still seem to be apathetic towards health guidelines and safety rules. The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week from April 22 in an effort to bring the Covid-19 situation under control.   Cause of concern Concerns about the spread of more contagious and deadlier variants of the virus have been raised by experts. A research suggests that the South African variant has accounted for 81 percent of the positive cases in Dhaka since the third week of March this year. That is not good news for Bangladesh because the country has managed to procure only the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine so far, which offers as little as 10 percent protection against the South African variant, according to researchers.   Vaccination efforts Last year, Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India for acquiring 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.   A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on February 7. So far, 57,29,147 people have received the first dose and 15,07,287 have got their second jab, according to official figures.   Amid growing calls for speeding up the inoculation programme, Bangladesh's vaccine supplier India has shifted from being a mass vaccine exporter to a major importer, after witnessing a record number of daily cases in the past couple of weeks. Although Bangladesh is yet to receive its March consignment of five million doses, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said the jabs will arrive as promised by India. END/UNB/MAS/JM  

The global Covid-19 cases surpassed 131 million on Monday despite the rapid vaccination campaign across the world, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The JHU data shows that the global case count reached 131,203,647 as of Monday morning while the death toll from the virus mounted to 2,852,196. Also Read: Global Covid cases hit 130.6 million The confirmed cases of Covid-19 surpassed 30 million in the USA alone on March 25. The global death toll from Covid-19 now stands at over 555,001. On Sunday, Brazil registered 1,240 more deaths and 31,359 new cases, with the total fatalities reaching 331,433, its health ministry reported. Registering a total of 12,984,956 infections, Brazil is currently one of the global epicenters of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the world's second-worst outbreak in terms of both deaths and infections, only after the United States. Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 6000+ cases for 2nd straight day As of Saturday, Brazil has vaccinated 24.5 million people against Covid-19. Among them, 19.18 million received the first dose while 5.32 million both doses. India’s total tally reached 12,495,509 while the death toll 64,623.   Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh recorded 7,087 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours until Sunday morning which is the highest number of infections since the pandemic has hit the country. Besides, the coronavirus fatalities rose to 9,266 with 53 new deaths during the period. The mortality rate fell to 1.45 on Sunday from Saturday’s 1.46 percent. Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. Bangladesh has so far recorded 637,364 coronavirus cases, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and confirmed the first death from the virus 10 days later.   Countrywide lockdown   In an effort to prevent the transmission of Coronavirus and improve the current situation, the government has issued a gazette imposing restrictions on the movement of people and other activities for seven days from Monday. The Cabinet Division issued the gazette on Sunday which will remain in force from 6 am on April 5 till 12 am on April 11.   Vaccination drive   The government launched a countrywide vaccination campaign on February 7 with doses received from the Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum in December last year for 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.