Dhaka, Jan 3 — The Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh rose to 7,626, raising the mortality rate to 1.48 percent.
In the 24 hours until Sunday morning, 27 more deaths were recorded, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
During this time, 835 new cases were detected through 10,925 tests as 978 more patients recovered. The recovery rate currently stands at 89.26 percent.
So far, 3,260,327 tests have been carried out.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18. The country’s infection number reached the 5,00000-mark on December 20. The death toll exceeded 7,000 on December 12.
Dhaka has so far recorded the highest number of fatalities 4,192 or 54.97 percent of all the Covid-19 related deaths in the country.
Global Covid-19 situation
Meanwhile, the global coronavirus caseload surpassed 84.5 million on Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
The total case count globally reached 84,535,117 while the death toll climbed to 1,834,963 in the morning.
The US, which remained the world’s worst-hit country in terms of the number of cases and deaths, has crossed the grim milestone of 20 million cases on New Year’s Day.
The country’s total cases reached 20,396,243 while 3,49,933 fatalities on Sunday morning.
India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 10,305,788 on Saturday as 19,079 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the health ministry.
India Okays 2 Covid-19 vaccines
Meanwhile, India on Sunday gave emergency authorisation for Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Drugs Controller General Dr Venugopal G Somani said the decision was made after “careful examination” by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, India’s pharmaceutical regulator.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the vaccine approval a “decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight.”
“It would make every Indian proud that the two vaccines that have been given emergency use approval are made in India!” Modi tweeted, reports AP.
AstraZeneca has contracted Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, to make 1 billion doses of its vaccine for developing nations, including India.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Serum Institute last month for importing 30 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. – Agencies
