Covid-19 continues to rage around the world, despite high rates of vaccination. In fact, the global caseload has now surged past 112.5 million.

The total case count reached 112, 534,393 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 2,497,023 on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The US, the worst-hit country in the world, has so far registered 28,334,797 cases and 505,803 deaths.

The Covid death toll in the US topped 500,000 on Monday.

Also read:Covid-19: Global cases top 108.7 million

The first known deaths from the virus in the US were in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 deaths. The toll hit 200,000 in September and 300,000 in December, then took just over a month to jump from 300,000 to 400,000 and another month to climb to 500,000.

Brazil registered 1,428 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, the fourth highest number of daily fatalities since the start of the pandemic, raising its nationwide death toll to 249,957, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: New cases, fatalities fall slightly

The ministry also said that tests detected 66,588 new Covid cases, bringing the total corona caseload to 10,324,463.

Wednesday also marked the country's 35th day in a row with more than 1,000 deaths.

Brazil has the world's second highest Covid death toll after the United States and the third largest caseload after the US and India.

India has so far recorded 11,030,176 cases and 156,567 deaths, as per the country's latest Covid data.

Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh saw a fall in Covid-related deaths and a rise in new cases in the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning.

Five coronavirus-related deaths and 428 new cases were reported during the period while 18 deaths and 399 fresh cases were confirmed on Tuesday.

The daily infection rate now stands at 2.65 %, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With the latest figures, the Covid fatalities climbed to 8,379 and total infections to 544,544.

According to DGHS, the overall infection rate slightly fell to 13.66%, which was 13.70 % on Tuesday.

The mortality rate remained steady at 1.54% for the past few days, the directorate said.

So far, 493,798 patients (90.68%), including 911 in past 24 hours, have recovered from Covid-19.

Authorities have so far tested 3,987,676 samples, including 16,152 in the past 24 hours.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

Vaccination in Bangladesh

The Covid-19 vaccination drive started in Bangladesh on February 7.

Bangladesh last year signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, for acquiring 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Serum will send five million doses each month between January and June. Five million doses arrived in January and India gifted another two million doses.

The government brought down the eligibility age to 40 for registration to get jabs. The doses are being provided for free.

Some 2,491,053 people have so far received the first shot. The second dose has to be taken within 8 to 12 weeks of the first shot.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccine: 130 countries yet to administer a single dose