The global Covid-19 caseload is fast approaching 172 million, as the world grapples to contain the second outbreak of the pandemic even with mass inoculations underway.
As of Thursday morning, the global case count and fatalities stand at 171,527,893 and 3,688,032, respectively. The latest figures have been released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
To date, health authorities worldwide have administered 1,967,946,636 vaccine doses, according to the university.
The US, the worst-hit country in the world, has now surpassed 33 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, as per the Johns Hopkins data.
To be specific, coronavirus cases in the US reached 33,306,908 on Thursday. Covid-19 deaths, on the other hand, surged to 595,822.
Brazil on Wednesday reported 2,507 more deaths from Covid-19, taking the nationwide tally to 467,706, the Ministry of Health said.
A total of 95,601 new infections were detected during the period, raising the caseload to 16,720,081, the ministry said.
Brazil has the world’s second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-highest caseload and the United States and India.
Besides, India’s total caseload reached 28,307,832 on Wednesday, while the death toll from the virus mounted to 335,102, according to the country’s Health Ministry.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Wednesday recorded 34 new coronavirus-related deaths and some 2,000 fresh cases in 24 hours.
Health authorities detected 1,988 new cases after testing 20,259 samples during the period. The number of tests has also increased over the past one week.
With the new cases, the total caseload has risen to 8,04,293, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new deaths have pushed up the fatality count to 12,694.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Vaccine procurement
The first batch of 1.06 lakh doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Dhaka on Monday night under the global vaccine initiative Covax.
On May 27, the Directorate General of Drug Administration approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine.
So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got emergency use authorisation in Bangladesh.
The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on May 27 gave the final approval to a proposal of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine.
As per the approval, the Health Services Division under the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will procure a total of 15 million (1.5 crore) vaccine doses in three months — June, July and August.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses acquired from India’s Serum Institute.
The administration of the first dose of the vaccine has, however, remained suspended since April 26.
Also, the country, the prime recipient of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in arrival of shipments from India.
