Bangladesh is seeing a continuous rise in the number of daily Covid-19 infection cases as it recorded 1,051 fresh ones in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning.
Six more coronavirus-related deaths were reported during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Though the daily infection rate fell slightly to 5.82 percent from 5.98 percent on Wednesday, the number of patients rose to 1,051 today from Wednesday’s 1,018. The mortality rate also came down to 1.53 percent from 1.54 percent for the past few weeks, the DGHS said in a handout.
With the latest figures, the Covid-19 fatalities climbed to 8,502 and the total infections to 554,156, the handout added.
Besides, it said, 1,307 people recovered from the virus infections during the period. So far, 507,920 patients (91.66 percent) have recovered.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 in the same year.
Health authorities have so far tested 42,16,028 samples, including 18,058 in the past 24 hours.
Vaccination drive in Bangladesh
Bangladesh launched its nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7.
By Wednesday, 41,18,953 people received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The second dose has to be taken between 8 and 12 weeks of the first one.
The government is providing the vaccine for free. It signed an agreement with India's Serum Institute for acquiring 30 million doses of the vaccine.
The institute will provide five million doses every month between January and June.
Those who are 40 or above can register for getting the jab at www.surokkha.gov.bd as the on-spot registration system has been revoked.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said the age limit for getting the vaccine will be revised once more doses are available in the country.
Global Covid-19 situation
The world is fast approaching the grim milestone of 118 million Covid-19 cases, despite the high rates of vaccination.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the global caseload reached 117,980,987 while the death toll climbed to 2,618,490 on Thursday.
People in the USA are getting vaccinated and the number of those is increasing day by day, but the country remains the world’s worst hit both in terms of cases and deaths.
The country has so far recorded 29,150,068 cases and 529,102 fatalities, as per the university data.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.
Brazil’s death toll and caseload now stand at 270,656 and 11,202,415, respectively, according to the university.
India recorded 11,262,707 Covid cases till Thursday morning, while the death toll from the virus crossed 158,063.
In terms of cases, India is counted as the second worst-hit country while in number of deaths, it holds the fourth position.
