Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 23 deaths, 684 new cases

Dhaka, Jan 2 – Bangladesh has witnessed deaths of 23 more people from Covid-19 and 684 new infections in 24 hours until Saturday.

The number of deaths rose to 7,599 since the first cases were reported in the country on March 8.
With 684 new cases, the country’s caseload stood at 515,184, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
So far, 3,249,402 tests, including 9701 new ones, have been carried out. The overall infection rate stood at 15.85 % and the death rate at 1.48
However, 459,620 patients – 89.21% – have so far recovered.
Bangladesh is seeing 3,025.04 infections, 2,698.78 recoveries and 44.62 deaths per million.
The country’s infection number reached the 5,00000-mark on December 20. The first death was reported on March 18 and the death toll exceeded 7,000 on December 12.
The government has been warning of the second wave of Covid-19 in winter and urging people to follow health safety measures. It has also adopted a “no mask, no service” policy.
Bangladesh will get Covid-19 vaccines for around 4.5 crore people by May-June next year, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said recently.
“We will get 3 crore doses of vaccine for 1.5 crore people at the end of January or early February next year and 6 crore doses for 3 crore people by May-June.”
Global Covid-19 Situation
COVID is continuing its spread across the world, with total cases crossing the 83.9 million mark on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
The total caseload across the globe stood at 83,959,994, with 1,827,176 fatalities, as of Saturday morning.
In the US, the death toll stood at 347,787 as of Saturday morning, with 20,128,359 people being infected with the virus, according to JHU data.
The confirmed coronavirus cases in the US topped 20 million on Friday as the discovery of a highly contagious new virus strain in the country increased pressure on the government to speed up the vaccination process, reports Xinhua.
The country, which makes up about 4 percent of the world’s population, now accounts for nearly one-quarter of over 83.8 million cases and 19 percent of 1.8 million deaths reported worldwide, according to the data.
It took 292 days for the US to reach its first 10 million cases, but only 54 more days for the figure to double.
Brazil’s Covid death toll reached 195,411 after 462 more patients died in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Friday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 24,605 new cases, bringing its total to 7,700,578.
While Brazil celebrated New Year without festivities and fireworks amid the ravaging pandemic, local authorities were still struggling to prevent the public from flocking to beaches on January 1.
In neighbouring India, the total cases reached 10,286,709 as of Saturday morning, with 148,994 fatalities. – UNB