Global Covid cases near 227 million

The deadly coronavirus continues to spread though at a slow burn in some countries. In fact, the global Covid-19 caseload is now nearing 227 million.

The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 226,995, 990 and 4,669,300, respectively, as of Friday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

So far, 5,807,211,499 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.

The US has logged 41,782,046 cases and 669,987 deaths to date, according to the JHU data.

Brazil, which has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States and the third-largest caseload after the US and India, recorded 21,069,017 cases with 589,277 fatalities, as of Thursday.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 33,380,522 on Thursday morning, as 34,649 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data. On the other hand, the country's death toll has reached 444,278.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh logged 51 more Covid-related deaths and 1,862 fresh cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning.

The daily case positivity rate also dropped to 5.98 per cent on Thursday, a slight fall from Wednesday’s 6.54 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

However, Thursday's fatalities were higher than the 35 deaths reported on Tuesday, the lowest in around three months.

The new numbers pushed the country’s Covid death tally to 27,109, while the caseload climbed to 15,38,203. Meanwhile, the fatality rate remained static at 1.76 per cent, said the DGHS.

It added that the recovery rate rose to 97.13 per cent with the recovery of 3,549 more patients during the 24-hour period.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the daily case positivity rate should remain at 5 per cent or below for 14 days before mass unlocking.

Bangladesh eased its lockdown restrictions on August 11, even though public health experts had warned of the Delta variant spread.

On September 12, after nearly 18 months, primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in Bangladesh reopened with a slew of Covid-safety protocols in place.