Global Coronavirus Cases Surpass 55 Million

The worldwide Covid-19 caseload rose by 55 million on Friday, to 56,898,415, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In addition, the death toll from Covid-19 shot up 1,360,381.

The United States remains the worst-hit country with 11,715,316 confirmed cases to date, including 252,535 fatalities, reports UNB.

But with coronavirus cases rising and people planning to gather for Thanksgiving, the situation is likely to worsen. The nation's testing infrastructure is also unable to keep pace with the virus, says AP.

Delays are occurring as the country prepares for winter weather, flu season and holiday travel, all of which are likely to amplify the US epidemic.

Meanwhile, since February 2 when Brazil registered its first case, the caseload has risen to 5,945,849, with 167,455 deaths.

Mexico became the fourth country to register over 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, announced late Thursday that Mexico had 100,104 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, behind only the United States, Brazil and India.

On Friday, India’s coronavirus cases since the pandemic began crossed 9 million.

The country's new regular cases have been slowly decreasing for weeks now and the total number of cases represents 0.6 per cent of India's 1.3 billion population.

The Indian Ministry of Health reported 45,882 new infections and 584 fatalities in the past 24 hours on Friday. The death toll is over 132,000.

Vaccine hope

A second experimental vaccine of the American company Moderna Inc, COVID-19, yielded remarkably good early results last week.

Moderna said that its vaccine appears to be 94.5 per cent safe, according to preliminary results from the ongoing report. A week before another US firm, Pfizer Inc, announced that its own vaccine was 90% successful.

The University of Oxford expects to release data on the efficacy of its own candidate in the coming weeks, with the latest test results reported in The Lancet indicating a strong immune response in older adults.

Established in collaboration with the global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which has registered manufacturing partners in different parts of the world, the ChAdOx1 nCov-2019 vaccine is most likely to play a significant role in any major or medium-scale vaccination campaign in Bangladesh.

Health authorities around the world are grappling with the use of some medications for COVID-19, leading to varying care choices for patients depending on where they live.

On Friday, the World Health Organization Recommendations Panel recommended against the use of antiviral remdesivir for hospitalized patients that there is no proof that it enhances survival or eliminates the need for breathing machines.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said the government had taken all-out preparations to procure vaccines whenever one is ready.

Earlier this month, the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Serum Institute of India Pvt Limited and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd to get 30 million doses of SARS-Cov-2 AZD 1222 (Oxford/Astrazeneca Vaccine).