Global coronavirus cases surge past 131 million


FE Team | Published: April 05, 2021 11:40:51 | Updated: April 06, 2021 11:56:36


Global coronavirus cases surge past 131 million

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, r+eports UNB.

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.

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 per cent.

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.

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