Dhaka, July 01 – As the coronavirus situation continues to worsen, the global death toll from the virus infection stood at 509,779 on Wednesday morning while the confirmed cases crossed 10,434,835, according to the Centre for System Science and Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The JHU data shows Brazil as the second most infected country after the US with 1,402,041 coronavirus cases and 59,594 deaths as of Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, India has grabbed the fourth position after Russia with 566,840 confirmed Covid-19 cases. The country has so far reported 16,893 deaths.
Russia counted the third highest Covid-19 cases- 646,929, after the US and Brazil till date.
Among the countries, the US has been the worst-hit one with the highest recorded deaths of 127,322 patients and about 2,629,372 confirmed cases.
In the US, New York State alone counted 32,032 deaths till date.
The UK has the third-highest death toll of 43,815, followed by Italy with 34,767, France 29,846 and Spain 28,355, according to the JHU data.
Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December last year.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.
Situation in Bangladesh
According to JHU, Bangladesh has come up to 18th position with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases it reported on Wednesday.
Bangladesh confirmed its first confirmed cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18 but it has been seeing a sharp rise in both new cases and deaths in recent weeks.
The country’s health authorities have recoded the highest coronavirus death in a single day as 64 people died of the deadly virus in 24 hours till Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 1,847.
The country has so far reported 145,483 coronavirus cases with the detection of 3,682 cases till Tuesday.
Government restrictions
The government on Tuesday announced extending the duration of controlled movement and other activities until August 3 to ensure effective containment of coronavirus.
The cabinet division has already issued directives to all ministries over implementation of the decision.
According to the directives, from July 1 to August 3, no one will be allowed to move out between 10pm and 5am except there are emergency cases.
Everyone has to wear masks, maintain safe physical distance and abide by recommended health guidelines in public places. Otherwise, he or she will have to face legal action, it said.
Besides, vehicles coming to malls have to be disinfected properly. All the shops and malls will be shut by 7pm.
In late March, the government enforced a general holiday across the country to tackle the spread of coronavirus.
But when the virus cases started peaking in late May, the restrictions were eased and regular activities were restored on a limited scale. – UNB
