Global Covid cases top 187 million

The global corona caseload has now surged past 187 million, as the second wave of the Covid pandemic continues its onslaught across the world even with mass inoculations underway.

The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 187,230,005 and 4,038,806, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

So far, 3,461,554,109 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.

The US has logged 33,886,515 cases and 607,390 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.

Brazil registered 595 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 533,488, the health ministry said Monday.

As many as 20,937 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,089,940, the ministry said.

The pandemic continues to spread in Asia-Pacific countries, with India reporting some 37,154 new cases on Monday. Japanese capital Tokyo, on the other hand, entered its fourth Covid-19 state of emergency.

India's Covid tally rose to 30,874,376 as 37,154 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry's data.

Besides, 724 more deaths have been recorded since Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 408,764.

Situation in Bangladesh

An appalling record number of 13,768 Covid cases were reported in Bangladesh while 220 people lost the battle to the deadly virus in 24 hours till Monday morning.

The new numbers took the country's caseload to 1,034,957 while the death toll rose to 16,639, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Just a day before, on Sunday, the country saw a record-high 11,856 cases and 230 deaths.

The country has been seeing an average of 201 deaths daily for the last seven days. A total of 2,136 people lost their battle to Covid-19 in the month of July so far.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 44,067 samples, which takes the country's daily case positivity rate to 31.24% from Sunday's 29.67%, said the DGHS.  

The fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the period.

The country saw 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June, making those the most fatal months of this year. Also, July was the most fatal month in 2020, reporting 1,264 deaths followed by 1,197 deaths in June that year.

So far, 881,521 people have recovered from Covid, taking the country's recovery rate to 85.17%, which is on the decline compared to other indicators.

Of those who died in 24 hours till Monday morning, 121 were aged over 60 years, 46 between the ages of 51 and 60, 26 between 41 and 50 years, 17 between 31 and 40 years, nine between 21 and 30 years and one was a teenager.

Dhaka division, the worst hit region so far, reported 64 of the deaths, while Khulna saw 55 deaths and Chattogram 37. Besides, 23 people died in Rajshahi, 18 in Rangpur, 13 in Mymensingh, six in Sylhet and four in Barishal divisions.

Vaccination drive

The government has so far approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm (China), Sputnik-V (Russia), Pfizer-BioNTech (USA/Germany), Crona Vac (China) and Janssen single-dose vaccines.

Amid the deteriorating coronavirus situation, the government resumed the countrywide mass registration on July 8 for receiving Covid-19 jabs, which was suspended for around three months as vaccine procurement became unsure.

Bangladesh is currently administering the Sinopharm, Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines.

As of now, 268,253 people have received the first dose of China's Sinopharm vaccine, and 2,259 the second dose of it.

Meanwhile, 29,852 people have received the first jabs of the Pfizer vaccine to date.

Of the Astrazeneca vaccine doses administered so far, some 4,295,568 have received the second shot and 5,820,033 the first one.