The overall number of global Covid cases has now surged past 237 million, despite the ongoing mass inoculations in several countries.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities from coronavirus mounted to 237,224,675 and 4,842,443, respectively, on Saturday.
The US has recorded 44,289,976 cases to date, while more than 712,693 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
The number of Americans getting Covid-19 shots has steadily increased to a three-month high as seniors and people with medical conditions seek boosters, and government and employer mandates push more workers to take their first doses, reports AP.
The total number of doses being administered in the US is climbing towards an average of 1 million per day, almost double the level from mid-July — but still far below last spring. The increase is mainly due to boosters, with nearly 10% of the nation’s over-65 population already getting third shots, but there are signs of increased demand from other groups as well.
Read:COVID-19 Third Wave: Things We Need to Know
On Thursday, 1.1 million doses were given, including just over 306,000 to newly vaccinated people, said Dr Cyrus Shahpar, the White House Covid-19 data director.
Brazil, which has the world's second-highest death toll from Covid-19 after the US, saw its death toll exceed 600,000 on Friday.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, the South American nation logged 600,425 deaths and 21,550,730 cases, after registering 615 deaths and 18,172 cases in 24 hours.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 33,915,569 on Friday, as 21,257 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.
Besides, 217 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 450,127.
Read: Covid claims 7 more lives in Khulna division
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged seven Covid-19 deaths, the lowest since March, in 24 hours till Friday morning, with 645 infections reported during this period.
The single-day daily death toll was the lowest since March 17 this year when the country recorded 11 Covid-related deaths.
The fresh cases were detected after 23,302 samples were tested, slightly decreasing the daily case positivity rate to 2.77 percent from Thursday’s 2.97 percent, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With this, the daily case positivity rate in the country remained below 5 percent for the 15th consecutive day, which makes the country ready for mass unlocking.
Also read: Global Covid cases top 225 million
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the daily-case positivity rate remains at 5 percent or below for 14 days, it is considered safe for mass unlocking.
In Bangladesh, the daily case positivity rate reached its peak of 32.55 percent on July 24 this year.
The fresh numbers took the total fatalities to 27,654 while the caseload mounted to 15,61,463, the DGHS said.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 percent.
The recovery rate slightly increased to 97.51 percent, with the recovery of 814 more patients during this time.
So far, 15,22,591 people have recovered from the deadly virus infection, the DGHS said.