Delta variant
Global Covid cases approach 191 million
The global Covid-19 caseload is fast nearing the grim milestone of 191 million as the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly in several countries amid mass vaccination drives.
The total caseload and fatalities stand at 190,877,071 and 4,095,650, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 3,646,506,843 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
Read:Natural origins theory of Covid-19 still the most likely: Fauci
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 34,129,941 cases. Besides, 609,231 people have lost their lives in the US to date, as per the JHU data.
Brazil has registered 542 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 542,756, the health ministry said Monday.
As many as 15,271 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,391,845, the ministry said.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.
The third worst-hit country, India's tally rose to 31,144,229 after 38,164 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours across the country, the federal health ministry's latest data showed.
Besides, 499 deaths due to the pandemic since Sunday morning took the total death toll to 414,108.
Situation in Bangladesh
Reeling from the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh on Monday saw 231 corona-related deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country, amid an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown.
Read: Covid’s frightening peak in Bangladesh; record 231 more die
The situation is likely to get worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause ahead of Eid holidays, many experts believe.
With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh have already tallied more than 1.1 million infections and 18,000-plus deaths from the pandemic. The country's fatalities have been hovering at roughly 200 for the past two weeks.
Also, Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh have reached 99% of the peak, with more than 11,828 new cases reported each day. The highest daily average was reported on July 15.
The country recorded 13,321 infections in 24 hours till Monday morning after testing 45,012 samples.
Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 230 on July 11 and 13,768 infections the next day.
The second wave of the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm the country's health infrastructure.
There have been 1,117,310 infections and 18,125 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:Covid claims 52 more lives in Khulna division 1,165 fresh cases recorded
Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 29.59% though the death rate remained unchanged at 1.62%, and the recovery rate dropped to 84.25%.
Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Khulna 57, Chattogram 43, Rangpur 17, Rajshahi 16, Mymensingh 11, Sylhet eight and Barisal six.
So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,908,272 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.
Delta variant in children: Chattogram reveals troubling data
Highly contagious delta variant of Coronavirus, identified first in India, has been detected among all recent Covid-19 cases among children of Chattogram.
Researchers came up with the conclusion after genome sequencing of 12 samples of children admitted to the Chattogram Maa o Shishu Hospital (Chattogram Mother and Child Care Hospital) and Chattogram General Hospital in between June to July first week.
Read: Covid-19: 1.5-month-old in Kushtia gets infected
A team of researchers of these hospitals and Chattogram University conducted the study.
Chattogram General Hospital Corona unit chief Abdur Rab Masum, a member of the research team, said,” This research is still going on. The sequence data from the study were published in the ‘Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data’, a German-based international database of global viruses. On Saturday morning, they published the information on their website.
Read 'Dangerous period' with delta variant: WHO
The study found that 80 percent of the affected children are below 10 years of age. The Delta type has been identified among the lowest eight months old infants.
Although prior studies of the same team revealed Covid transmission is more among men, an exception was found in case of children. The Chattogram researchers found 50% of the positive cases were boys while the other 50 % were girls.
Read: Will children be able to get COVID-19 vaccines?
The study also revealed that 95% of the children had fever and 80% had cold and cough, while only one child was completely asymptomatic.
Chattogram General Hospital’s physician Dr Hamidullah Mehdi, who led the study, said observations over the last four months have shown that there were Covid outbreaks by Alpha and Beta variants in Chattogram till May. But the Delta type has been seen in 90 percent of the patients since June.
“The most worrying aspect is the significant increase in Delta infections in children,” he said.
Read Brazil reopens amid looming threat from delta variant
Sanjay Kanti Biswas, one of the members of the research team, said, "We’ve not seen coronavirus transmission among children at such a significant rate in the last one year. But the number of infections and severity have increased since last June.”
“Our research shows that this is due to the Delta variant of the virus. As young children are unable to express their feelings or weaknesses, many won’t be subjected to corona tests or identification, which is also a matter of concern,” he added.
Read: Over 850,000 children in US test positive for COVID-19
A research of the Virology Department of Icddr’b, led by Dr Mustafizur Rahman and Dr Md Enayet Hossain, supervised the genome sequencing.
The Covid-19 Delta variant is highly contagious and spreads rapidly in unvaccinated individuals.
On June 23, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health and chief medical advisor to the president of the United States commented that children “will more likely get infected” with this variant than the Alpha variety. This sparked some concern across the world from parents, however experts suggested that there is no need to panic as Covid-19 fatality among children is still very insignificant.
Read Vaccine deliveries rising as delta virus variant slams Asia
Covid kills 225 more in Bangladesh as cases cross 1.1 million-mark
With Covid’s Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh is now facing the worst scenario as the caseload crossed 1.1 million-mark in the country on Sunday.
The country also recorded 225 fresh deaths in 24 hours till this morning.
The total caseload from Covid now stands at 1,103,989 while 11,578 fresh cases were reported during the 24-hour period, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new numbers pushed the country’s death tally to 17,894.
The fresh cases were reported after testing 39, 806 samples which took the case positivity rate to 29.09% from Saturday’s 29.06%, said the DGHS.
Global Covid cases approach 190 million
The global Covid-19 caseload is fast nearing the grim milestone of 190 million as the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly in different countries amid vaccination drives.
The total caseload and fatalities stand at 189,924,297 and 4,081,535 respectively as of Sunday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Read:France: Thousands protest against vaccination, COVID passes
So far, 3,596,183,765 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 34,067,424 cases. Besides, 608,881 people have lost their lives in the US to date.
Brazil registered 868 more COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 541,266, the health ministry said Saturday.
As many as 34,339 new cases were detected, taking the total caseload to 19,342,448, the ministry said.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
The third worst-hit country, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 31,064,908 on Saturday, as 38,079 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry's latest data.
Read: Little new evidence emerges in US probe of Covid-19 origins
Besides, 560 deaths due to the pandemic have been reported since Friday morning, took the total death toll to 413,091.
Overall, the number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide over the past seven days has increased by 3.5 mln. The world documented 0.5 mln more infections than a week before, according to TASS’ calculations.
Situation in Bangladesh
As Bangladesh continues to struggle with the deadlier 2nd wave of Covid-19 , the country lost 204 more lives in 24 hours till Saturday morning, setting off growing concern among people.
The virus also infected 8,489 others during the period.
The new figures took the death tally to 17,669 and caseload to 10,92,411, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: It was premature to rule out Covid lab leak: WHO
The fresh cases were detected after testing 29,214 samples during the period which took the positivity rate to 29.06% from Friday’s 28.96%.
However, the fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the period.
Global Covid cases near 189 million
With a fast spreading Delta variant making many countries see the worst surge of Covid-19, the global corona caseload is now nearing the grim milestone of 189 million.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 188,851,797 and 4,065, 528, respectively, as of Friday morning, as per the latest data released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
On the other hand, as many as 3,532,172,020 vaccine doses have been administered across the world to date.
Also read: Vaccine deliveries rising as delta virus variant slams Asia
The US has so far logged 33,974,299 cases and 608,387 fatalities, the highest death toll in the world, according to the university.
The US crossed the grim milestone of 30 million cases on March 25.
Brazil registered 1,552 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national fatality figure to 539,050, the health ministry said Thursday.
As many as 52,789 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,262,518, the ministry said.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
Also read: Dispiriting setback: COVID deaths, cases rise again globally
India has been experiencing a fall in daily Covid-19 deaths over the past couple of weeks.
The country's Covid-19 tally surpassed 31,025,875 on Thursday, with 39,072 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, said the federal health ministry.
Besides, as many as 544 deaths were reported on Thursday that took the overall fatality toll to 412,563.
Situation in Bangladesh
While the lockdown restrictions have been eased ahead of Eid, Bangladesh recorded its second-highest Covid deaths at 224 in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
Besides, 12,236 fresh cases were detected during the period.
The new numbers took the country’s total death tally to 17,278 and the caseload to 10,71,774, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases were detected after testing 46,604 samples during the period, bringing down the case positivity rate to 27.23% from Wednesday’s 29.14%.
Also read: Bangladesh still in life-and-death race with Covid; 226 more die
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the 24-hour period.
The country saw a record number of 13,768 Covid cases on Monday and the highest-ever 230 deaths on Sunday.
So far, 905,807 people have recovered from Covid taking the country’s recovery rate to 84.51%.
19 more Covid patients die in RMCH
Nineteen more Covid patients have died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in the last 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday .
Of the deceased, five were confirmed Covid patients, while14 others had symptoms of the virus, said hospital director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani.
Read:RMCH Corona unit scrambles as it reports 19 more deaths
Six of the patients were from Rajshahi district, three from Chapainawabganj, two each from Natore and Naogaon and six from Pabna districts.
Some 267 people died of Covid-19 at the corona unit of RMCH from July 1 to July 14.
Besides, 56 more new patients have been admitted to the hospital with Covid symptoms in the past 24 hours. Currently, 507 patients are undergoing treatment at the 454-bed hospital.
Read: 14 more Covid patients die at RMCH in 24 hrs
RMCH has been one of the most stretched hospitals in the country during the second wave of Covid-19, particularly since the latter part of May when the deadly Delta variant of the virus was identified in multiple samples in Rajshahi division.
Wellbeing during COVID-19: How yoga can help you during quarantine
The ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19 has recently been creating even more havoc with its more contagious and powerful Delta variant and Bangladesh has been recording new highs in the daily death toll almost every day over the past week.
People are exploring the possible remedies and immunity boosters to stay healthy amid the shutdown, including the benefits of home workouts, meditations and yoga.
Fatigue is something that does not go away even after COVID-19 is cured, and it is also a companion to other infectious diseases. People suffering from weakness of body and mind cannot easily return to normal life because of this respiratory virus that affects the lungs and causes a lack of oxygen supply, thus fatigue spreads to the cells of the body.
Read:Bangladeshi youth shines in global yoga vlogging contest
Evaluating the problem, health experts suggest that the lungs need to be protected as well as the immune system of the body, and regular yoga practice can be an effective solution to these necessities and also helps to prevent fatigue and other physical and psychological problems.
Several organizations including Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) are considering yoga a beneficiary tool for the frontliners policemen and it has arranged multiple yoga training sessions over the year for both of its male and female troops.
Regarding the health benefit of yoga during this pandemic, Monirul Islam, a 70-years old retired government officer, talked to UNB and shared his miraculous recovery process of surviving a stroke, from which he got cured by practising yoga during the lockdown last year.
Read Which Type of Yoga Should You Try?
“I have always been a fit and socially active person, being engaged to many organizations and cooperative works after my retirement. When we were instructed by WHO and the government that we need to avoid all the outside activities, embracing all these new normalcies and lockdown protocols, my regular life and health got massively impacted - as a result of which, I suffered a stroke in August 2020,” Monirul Islam told UNB.
After receiving the necessary medical assistance, he started receiving online training from yoga studio Bend with B’s founder and instructor Bishaka Tanchangya, a certified yoga instructor from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA Yoga University), Bangalore, India.
Read:What Does Yoga Do For Weight Loss?
Bangladesh in grip of Covid’s wave; sees record 212 deaths
Bangladesh on Friday saw 212 Covid-19 deaths, the highest number since the pandemic hit the country, amid a strict nationwide lockdown in effect since July 1.
Also, Covid-19 infections in the country are at their peak now, with 9,665 new cases reported each day – the highest daily average.
The country recorded 11,324 infections in 24 hours till Friday morning after testing 36,850 samples.
Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 201 on Wednesday and 11, 651 cases on Thursday.
The country is in the grip of a second wave of the coronavirus that is threatening to overwhelm its health service.
Also read: Dhaka reemerging as Covid hotspot as battle plan ‘fails’: Experts
There have been 1,000,543 infections and 16,004 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
However, the test positivity rate dropped to 14.49%. The daily positivity rate of 31.62% on Thursday raised concerns among experts as the World Health Organization recommended a 5% or below rate.
Meanwhile, the death rate remains unchanged at 1.60%, and the recovery rate dropped to 86.19%.
Khulna division reported the highest 79 deaths, Dhaka 53, Chattogram 26, Rajshahi 23, Rangpur 12, Mymensingh eight, Sylhet six and Barishal five.
Also read: Global Covid cases top 185 million
Hospitals are now overwhelmed with patients and struggling to cope as the country is experiencing a devastating second wave of Covid infections, driven by the Delta variant.
The Prime Minister's Office on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to increase oxygen supply and corona beds in hospitals across the country to ensure the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,114,578 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.
Covid: 18 more die at Rajshahi hospital
Eighteen more Covid-related deaths have been reported at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in the past 24 hours.
Of the deceased, eight tested positive for Covid-19 while the remaining 10 showed symptoms of the virus, hospital authorities said on Thursday.
Read:17 more die of Covid at Kushtia hospital
Hospital Director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani said that nine of the deceased were from Rajshahi district, three from Naogaon, two each from Chapainawabganj and Natore and one each from Kushtia and Pabna districts.
Besides, 114 people have tested positive for corona in the past 24 hours. "A total of 429 samples were tested in two laboratories of the district during the period," he said.
The positivity rate currently stands at 26.57%, which was 21.92% a day before.
Read: Covid-19 response: Citibank NA Bangladesh steps forward to support communities
Shamim Yazdani also said 70 people were admitted to the corona unit of the hospital in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
Forty-eight people were discharged from the hospital after recovery during the period.
Moreover, 485 people are currently undergoing treatment against 454 beds at the corona unit of the hospital. Among them, 20 patients are undergoing treatment in the ICU.
Read:20 more die of Covid at Rajshahi hospital
RMCH has been one of the most stretched hospitals in the country during the second wave of Covid-19, particularly since the latter part of May when the deadly Delta variant of the virus was identified in multiple samples in Rajshahi division.
Global Covid cases top 184 million
The second wave of the pandemic continues its onslaught across the world even with mass inoculations underway. The global Covid-19 caseload has now surged past 184 million.
In fact, the total caseload and fatalities stand at 184,106,914 and 3,983,705, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 3,220,930,876 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,723,095 cases, according to JHU, while 605,567 people have lost their lives to the virus to date.
Read: Covid vaccine: Expat workers can now sign up on Surokkha
Brazil, where the catastrophe has been driven not by Delta but rather its own more infectious variant, is fast catching up with the United States when it comes to the death toll, and the South American behemoth has the third-largest caseload in the world, following the US and India.
The South American country has recorded 525,112 deaths and 18,792,511 cases, as of Tuesday morning.
India's own Covid-19 caseload rose to 30,585,229 on Monday, according to the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 723 more deaths were recorded since Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 402,728.
A study conducted on 100 healthcare workers across three centres in India has found the Delta variant eight times less sensitive to antibodies generated by the Covid-19 vaccine.
The 'Sars-Cov-2 B.1.617.2 Delta Variant Emergence and Vaccine Breakthrough: Collaborative Study' also found that the variant has a much higher capacity to infect more people, according to a media report.
The collaborative study from India was conducted along with scientists from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease.
"The B.1.617.2 Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-delta infections but also generates greater transmission between fully vaccinated healthcare workers, as compared to other variants B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) or B.1.617.1 (Kappa variant)," the findings of the study revealed.
Read:35-years-olds to be made eligible for Covid jabs: DGHS DG
The study said the Delta variant is less sensitive to neutralising antibodies from recovered individuals, with "higher replication efficiency" as compared to the Alpha variant.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, currently passing through the most frightful stage of the Covid-19 second wave, on Monday morning reported another record-high 164 deaths in 24 hours.
During the period, Bangladesh also broke its all-time record of cases with 9,964 fresh infections, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
This was reported just after seeing the highest 153 deaths on Sunday and highest 8,822 cases back on June 30.
The new cases were detected after testing 34,002 samples, said the DGHS. This puts the country's case positivity rate at 29.30%.
Bangladesh last recorded the highest single-day positivity rate of 28.99% on Sunday.
The new numbers took the country’s death toll to 15,229 and the caseload to 954,881. However, the fatality rate remained unchanged during the period at 1.59%.
So far, 839,082 people have recovered from the disease putting the recovery rate at 87.87%, which is declining unlike other indicators.
Read: Covid-19: Countries racing to vaccinate before Delta takes hold
Khulna division logged the highest 55 deaths on Monday when Dhaka saw 40 Covid deaths. Besides, 18 people died in Chattogram, 16 each in Rajshahi and Rangpur, nine in Barishal, eight in Sylhet and two in Mymensingh divisions.
Of the deceased, 148 died at different government and non-government hospitals, 15 at homes and one on the way to hospital, according to the DGHS.
The country saw 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June, marking those the most fatal months of this year.
Also, July was the most fatal month of 2020, reporting 1,264 deaths followed by 1,197 deaths in June that year.