The confirmed global coronavirus cases neared 24 million on Wednesday, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Besides, over 819,554 fatalities have been recorded globally, JHU data showed.
United States, the worst-hit country, has recorded 5,779,028 infections and 178,518 deaths so far – both the highest for any country.
Meanwhile, Brazil recorded 3,669,995 cases with 116,580 deaths from novel coronavirus till date, UNB reported.
India's Covid-19 infections hit 3,234,474 while the country reported 59,449 deaths until Wednesday.
Bangladesh’s coronavirus death toll rose to 4,028 on Tuesday after the health authorities said 45 patients died of Covid-19.
The current mortality rate is 1.34 per cent.
Meanwhile, the detection of 2,545 new cases has pushed the number of confirmed cases to 2,99,628.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.
‘Reinfection chances slim’
Following reports in Hong Kong that a man had contracted new coronavirus for a second time after an interval of more than four months, the UN health agency said the possibility of reinfection is slim.
Covid-19 reinfection seems not to be a ‘regular event’, says UN health agency on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris addressed concerns that the development could herald a new alert.
“The important thing to note is the numbers are very, very small,” she said.
“So this is one documented case in over 23 million and we will probably see other documented cases. But it seems to be not a regular event we would have seen many more cases.”
Vaccine initiative gathers pace
In a related development, WHO said that more than 170 countries are cooperating on a global initiative to produce fairly priced Covid-19 vaccines once they are licensed and approved.
The Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) initiative involves countries and vaccine manufacturers; it is led by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
In a statement, WHO said that COVAX has the world’s “largest and most diverse Covid-19 vaccine portfolio” with nine candidate vaccines, nine more “under evaluation and conversations underway with other major producers”.
WHO described the project as only global initiative that is working with governments and manufacturers to ensure Covid-19 vaccines are available worldwide to both higher-income and lower-income countries.
