The Average daily transaction of mobile financial service (MFS) has crossed Tk3200 core and its volume shows a growing trend, said the latest report of Bangladesh Bank (BB). Analysing the data of 13 MFS in the country the BB report said that MFS gets popular in Bangladesh due to convenient transaction opportunities and payment facilities. The BB has released the updated statistics of MFS with information on 13 service providers. It has been seen that in the first month of this year January, customers transacted Tk1.05lakh crore. This figure is the second-highest recorded transaction on mobile so far. “There is no fee to open an account. Money can be sent everywhere instantly. At the same time, many new services have been added including payment of shopping bills, and loan facilities. These are contributing to an increase in the number of users,”  said Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of the BB. The central bank officials say inward remittances are also coming through MFS. As a result, people's interest and dependence on MFS are increasing. The volume of transactions with customers is also increasing because of multifold uses of this service. According to the BB, in January on average daily transactions through MFS was Tk3245 crore, excluding Nagad mobile finance operator as this MFS provider is not included under the BB financial report. If the Nagad transaction is added, then the MFS’ daily transaction volume would cross Tk4200 crore. The BB report revealed that 60 percent of the transaction was money deposit and windrowing while 40 percent was digital payment in January 2023. The number of customers is increasing day by day with transactions in mobile banking. Currently, 13 banks are providing mobile banking services under different names including Bkash, Rocket, U Cash, My Cash, and Sure Cash. At the end of January 2023, the number of customers registered in mobile banking stood at 19.41 crore. And the number of mobile banking agents has reached 15.69 lakh till January.  

Bangladesh reported six more Covid-19 linked deaths and 4,378 more cases of infections in 24 hours till Friday morning with the deadly infections keep escalating in the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With the fresh cases reported after testing 30,366 samples, the daily positivity rate surged to 14.66 per cent from Thursday’s 12.03 per cent during the 24-hour period, said DGHS. The country last logged 4,698 cases on August 26 last year along with 102 deaths in 24 hours while the positivity rate was 13.77 per cent. READ: India reports 264,202 new COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 36,582,129 The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,129 while the caseload mounted to 1,609,042 on Friday. Among the new deceased, two were men and four women. Three of them were reported from Dhaka division while two died in Chattogram and another in Rajshahi divisions. The mortality rate remained static at 1.75 per cent during the 24-hour period. The recovery rate slightly declined to 96.47 per cent with the recovery of 351 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Covid-19 in Bangladesh claimed 21 more lives and infected 980 others in 24 hours till Sunday morning. This is the lowest number of deaths since May 26 when the country reported 17 single-day Covid deaths.  The latest cases were detected after testing 22,221 samples showing a slight fall in the daily-case positivity rate from Saturday’s 4.59 percent to 4.41 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). READ: COVID-19 vaccine boosters could mean billions for drugmakers On Saturday, after more than four months, the country saw below 1,000 single-day cases, reporting 818 Covid cases in 24-hour period. According to the DGHS, the fresh numbers of deaths and cases took the country’s total Covid-19 fatalities to 27,414 while the caseload mounted to 1,551,351. Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 percent. The recovery rate increased slightly to 97.43 percent with the recovery of 1,312 more patients during the period. So far, 1,511,479 people have recovered from the deadly virus infections, the DGHS added. READ: Narail school teacher and 5th-grader son contract Covid-19 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the daily case positivity rate remaining at 5 percent or below for 14 days is considered safe for mass unlocking.  However, Bangladesh eased its lockdown restrictions on August 11, even though public health experts had warned of Delta variant spread.

Bangladesh logged 139 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours till Sunday morning, one day after the lowest record in about two months amid concern over the unlocking of the country from restrictions imposed to check the spread of the virus. The country on Saturday saw 120 Coronavirus related deaths and the upward curve of the fatalities was at its peak on August 5 and 10 with 264 deaths. Besides, 4,804 more people came out positive with the virus after testing 31,689 samples during the last 24 hours, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The fresh numbers pushed the country’s total fatalities to 25,282 while the cases reached 14,61,994. READ: Covid-19: Journalist Dalim ‘too young to die’ Meanwhile the case positivity rate fell to 15.16% from Saturday’s 16.71 %, said the DGHS. The recovery rate rose to 93.29 %, but the case fatality increased to 1.73 % compared to the same period. Among the new deaths, 38 died in the Dhaka division, 31 in Chattogram , 17 in Khulna, 12 Sylhet, 15 in Rajshahi, 10 in Mymensingh, eight in each Rangpur and Barishal division. READ: DGHS chief vows action in instances of stealing Covid jabs Of them 72 were male and 67 female. The country is currently seeing around 170 deaths and 6,800 cases on a seven day average.

With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading rapidly across several countries, the global Covid-19 caseload is also fast approaching the grim milestone of 211 million. The total caseload and fatalities stand at 210,820,517 and 4,414,840, respectively, as of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU). So far, 4,867,004,474 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe. The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 37,613,490 cases, according to JHU, while 627,843people have lost their lives to Covid to date. Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India. READ: Global Covid cases near 210 million  The country has recorded 20,528,099 cases with 573,511 fatalities so far, according to the health ministry. The third worst-hit country, India's Covid-19 tally rose to 32,358,829 on Friday, while the death toll from the virus mounted to 433,589. Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh added 145 fatalities, lowest in 48 days, to its national tally Friday, as Covid deaths continue to fall for the third straight day and cases remain below the 8,000 mark since August 14. The country reported 134 Covid deaths on July 3, the highest fatality number – 264 – on August 5 and 10, and 16,230 infections on July 28. Bangladesh is now reporting 7,191 new cases on an average each day – 50% of the peak. The highest daily average was reported on August 3. It recorded 5,993 new cases Friday after testing 34,892 samples, down from 8,465 logged a week earlier on August 13. The country has been experiencing a surge of Covid-related caseload and deaths since June 2021. Since the beginning of the vaccination programme, the government has administered at least 22,413,079 doses of Covid jabs – enough to have vaccinated around 6.7% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.   READ: Global Covid cases top 209 million Getting vaccinated prevents severe illness, hospitalisations, and death, and with the Delta variant, this is more urgent than ever, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bangladesh reported 172 more coronavirus-related deaths and 7,248 fresh infections in 24 hours till Wednesday morning as concern remains over the virulent Delta Variant of the virus. The country has been seeing fatalities below 200 for the last six days, a slight improvement from the July 25- August 13 period when daily deaths were recorded over 200. The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 24,719 while the cases to 1,440,644, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) READ: Bangladesh reports 198 more Covid deaths, 7,535 fresh cases The new cases were detected after testing  41,014  samples which lowered the case positivity rate to  17.67 % from Tuesday’s 19.18 %, still much higher that the WHO recommendation of bringing it below 5%. Meanwhile, the case fatality rate increased to 1.72 % after staying unchanged at 1.71% for some days. READ: Bangladesh again hits record high 264 Covid deaths  

The global Covid-19 caseload has now surpassed 193 million as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to devastate several countries even with mass inoculations underway. The total caseload and fatalities stand at 193,165,622 and 4,143,105 respectively, as of Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU). So far, 3,780,890,033 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe. The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 34,400,655 cases. Besides, 610,720 people have lost their lives in the US to date, as per the JHU data. Brazil has registered 1,412 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 548,340 till Saturday. As many as 49,757 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,632,443 the ministry said. Read: Americas account for 40% global Covid deaths, 25% cases: WHO Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India. The third worst-hit country, India's Covid-19 tally rose to 31,293,062 on Saturday as 35,342 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country. Besides, as many as 483 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 419,470. According to AP, India’s excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official Covid-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country. Read: India's deaths during pandemic 10X official toll   The report released Tuesday estimated excess deaths — the gap between those recorded and those that would have been expected — to be 3-4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021. It said an accurate figure may “prove elusive” but the true death toll “is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count.” Situation in Bangladesh Although the Covid-related deaths dropped to 166 in Bangladesh on Friday from 231 on July 19, the country’s health system still remained overwhelmed.    The country saw the below 200 fatalities for the third straight day. Also, Covid-19 infections are at 81% of the peak now, with 9,632 new cases reported on an average each day. The highest daily average was recorded on July 15. Bangladesh recorded 6,364 new infections in 24 hours till Friday morning after testing 20,493 samples. With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, the country's fatalities have been hovering at nearly 200 for the past two weeks. It reported the highest daily Covid fatality figure – 231 – on July 19 and 13,768 infections on the 12th of the month. There have been 1,146,564 infections and 18,851 coronavirus-related deaths here since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate fell to 31.05% from Thursday's 32.19%. Read: Bangladesh sees 173 more Covid deaths as pandemic eclipses Eid celebrations Amid growing concerns about the highly infectious Delta variant, Dhaka division reported the highest 60 deaths, Khulna and Chattogram 33 each, Rangpur 12, Barishal 10, Sylhet eight, Rajshahi seven, and Mymensingh three. However, the death rate stood at 1.64% and the recovery rate rose to 85.35%.