Global Covid Cases Top 171 Million

Notwithstanding a drop in the number of fresh cases in several countries, the global Covid-19 tally topped 171 million on Wednesday. 

The global caseload and fatalities currently stand at 171,034,625 and 3,557,281, respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

Some 1,931,508,270 doses of vaccine have been administered globally to date, as per the university data.

The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,287,110 cases and 595,207 deaths, Johns Hopkins figures reveal.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 28,175,044 on Tuesday, with 127,510 new cases reported in 24 hours, said the federal Health Ministry.

The daily spike of new cases in India has been falling over the past couple of weeks. The cases registered in a day have fallen to the lowest level in nearly two months.

Besides, 2,795 deaths were reported since Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 331,895, according to the Ministry.

Brazil on Tuesday reported 2,408 more deaths from Covid-19, taking the nationwide tally to 465,199, the Ministry of Health said.

A total of 78,926 new infections have been detected in the country to date, raising the caseload to 16,624,480, the ministry said.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload after the United States and India.

Situation in Bangladesh

Amid a growing trend in both coronavirus infections and fatalities, Bangladesh on Tuesday logged 41 more deaths, pushing up the fatality toll to 12,660.

Besides, health authorities detected 1,765 new cases after testing 18,250 samples during the period.

With the new cases, the total caseload has risen to 8,02,305, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.

Vaccine procurement

The first batch of 1.06 lakh doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Dhaka on Monday night under the global vaccine initiative Covax.

On May 27, the Directorate General of Drug Administration approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine.

So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got emergency use authorisation in Bangladesh.

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on May 27 gave the final approval to a proposal of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine.

As per the approval, the Health Services Division under the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will procure a total of 15 million (1.5 crore) vaccine doses in three months—June, July and August.

Vaccination drive

Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses acquired from India's Serum Institute.

The administration of the first dose of the vaccine has, however, remained suspended since April 26.

Also, the country, the prime recipient of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in arrival of shipments from India.