Covid-19: Global cases close to 136 million

Amid the alarming deterioration in the Covid-19 situation worldwide, the confirmed cases of coronavirus reached near 136 million on Monday with 2.9 million deaths, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The total caseload in the world rose to 135,869, 704 while the death toll reached 2,935,271 as of Monday morning.

The US has remained the world’s worst country in number of cases and deaths and so far, the country has logged 31,196,119 cases and 562,064 deaths.

Brazil has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, and many states in the country have reported an overloading of their healthcare systems.

Brazil registered 1,803 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 353,137, the country's ministry of health reported on Sunday.

The ministry also said that another 37,017 cases of COVID-19 were reported at the same period of time, bringing the total number of cases to 13,482,023.

Besides, India’s total caseload crossed 13,358,805 with 169,275 fatalities.

Covid-19 situation in Banagladesh

Bangladesh has reported its highest single-day coronavirus fatalities on Sunday, surpassing Saturday’s figure.

The health authorities confirmed 78 deaths during the past 24 hours till morning. A day earlier, the country recorded 77 fatalities, the highest since coronavirus cases were first reported in March last year.

Fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,739 as the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the third consecutive day.

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death on March 18 last year. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.

Meanwhile, 5,819 new cases were reported, pushing the local tally to 684,756, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

A rise in cases prompted the government to enforce a seven-day lockdown from April 5 but later shops and shopping malls were allowed to remain open and public transport resumed in city corporation areas.

The ongoing lockdown will remain in force until April 13 (Tuesday) to stem the spread of Coronavirus, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday.

The government will enforce a stricter lockdown for seven days from April 14 to bring the situation under control.

Vaccination drive

The vaccination campaign launched on February 7 with doses received from the Serum Institute of India continues with experts calling for ramping up the drive.

On April 8, Bangladesh began its second phase of inoculating people against coronavirus amid uncertainty around vaccine availability.