As countries struggle to contain the second outbreak of the pandemic, the global Covid-19 caseload is fast approaching the grim milestone of 180 million.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 179,936,032 and 3,898,801, respectively, as of Friday morning, as per Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 2,759,134, 526 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.
The US has logged 33,590,429 cases and 603,178 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.
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India's Covid-19 tally surpassed 30 million while the death toll topped 393,338 on Thursday, said the federal health ministry.
As many as 51,248 new cases and 965 deaths were registered across the country in the past 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
Brazil on Thursday reported 72,705 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 18,243,483, the Ministry of Health said.
Some 2,042 people died of Covid during the same period, raising the national death toll to 509,282.
Covid-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019 but the outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first two-three months of 2020.
It was declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March, 2020.
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Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Thursday morning reported 6,058 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 19.93%, heightening the mounting worries over Bangladesh’s coronavirus situation.
Besides, the deadly virus claimed the lives of 81 more people during the period, taking the national fatality tally to 13,868.
The fresh cases have pushed up the total caseload to 8,72,935, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Vaccine rollout
Bangladesh on Monday started administering the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at three centers in Dhaka to fight off Covid.
On May 27, the government approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine in the country.
On Saturday, Bangladesh started administering the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine across the country.
The vaccination drive started across the country with 11 lakh doses of Sinopharm gifted by China, said the DGHS.
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Bangladesh is now administering the first doses of the Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines and also the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
As of now, 32,688 people have received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, while 368 people have got the second dose.
Of the Astrazeneca vaccine doses, 4,281,776 people have received the second shot and 5,820,015 the first one to date.