The JHU also reported that people infected with coronavirus in the world stands 65,842,942 while the death toll has reached 1,518,560 as of Saturday morning.

The United States is the leading country in terms of confirmed novel coronavirus cases and deaths with 14,353,740 cases and 279,726 deaths followed by India and Brazil.

The number of Americans hospitalized with Covid-19 hit an all-time high in the US on Thursday at 100,667, according to the Covid Tracking Project. That figure has more than doubled over the past month, while new daily cases are averaging 210,000 while deaths 1,800 per day, according to data compiled by the JHU, reports AP.

Brazil has registered 6,533,968 cases with 175,964 deaths, said the JHU data.

In India, the number of cases near 1 million as the  9,571,559 – and the fatality figure stood at 139,188.

Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December last year and it was declared a pandemic in March.

Bangladesh coronavirus situation

Bangladesh saw the deaths of 20 more men and four women from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours until early Friday.

Also, 2,252 new cases were confirmed during the period, bringing the caseload to 473,991.

The fatality number reached 6,772 and the death rate stood at 1.43%, said the Directorate General of Health Services.

Bangladesh is the 26th worst-affected country in the world considering the number of cases, according to JHU data.

Covid-19 Vaccine    

Pfizer and BioNTech last week said they won permission for emergency use of their vaccine in Britain, the world's first Covid-19 shot backed by rigorous science.

The US and the European Union are also vetting the Pfizer shot along with a similar vaccine made by competitor Moderna Inc.

But, for Bangladesh, benefitting from the two vaccines is a big challenge due to its existing cold chain system.

Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved in principle a proposal of the Health Services Division to procure the Covid-19 vaccine directly from any organization through negotiations without following any bidding process.

The government said it would initially provide 30 million free doses of vaccine, selecting the recipients following the World Health Organization protocol.

It plans to procure the doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.

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