Citizen Times Desk:
Dhaka, Jul-29,
The overall number of global Covid cases is
fast approaching the 196-million mark, as the world battles a devastating
second wave of the pandemic.
According to US-based
Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 195,889,920
while the death toll from the virus reached 4,186,319 on Thursday morning.
So far, 3,960,681,905
vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The Delta variant of
Covid-19 has now been detected in 124 territories worldwide, the World Health
Organization (WHO) said recently.
The US, which is the
world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged
34,670,685 cases. Besides, 611,780 people have lost their lives in the US to
date, as per the JHU data.
Brazil registered 1,344
more Covid-19 fatalities in 24 hours, raising its national death toll to
553,179, the health ministry said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the total
caseload rose to 19,797,086 after 48,013 new cases were detected during the
period.
Brazil currently has
the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the
third-largest caseload after the United States and India.
The third worst-hit country, India's Covid-19 case count rose to 31,484,605 on Thursday morning and the fatalities touched 422,022.
Situation in Bangladesh:
As the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to devastate the country, Bangladesh on Wednesday logged 237 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours.
With the new deaths,
the country's fatality figures have topped 20,016. Bangladesh has been seeing
nearly 200 deaths every day for the past two weeks and breaking records of
daily cases and deaths almost every other day.
Besides, 16,230 more
people came out Covid positive after the test of 53,877 samples during the period, according to the
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
This was the highest-ever single-day transmission after the country saw a record 15,192 Covid cases on Monday. With the new numbers, the total caseload has mounted to 1,210,982.
Vaccination campaign to gain momentum:
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina on Tuesday reaffirmed her government's commitment to ensure Covid-19
vaccine doses for all in the country.
The prime minister said
she had already given directives to vaccinate the helping hands of a family,
including domestic helps and drivers, so that all the members of a family could
remain protected.
The prime minister said
1.87 crore people were already vaccinated and all would be brought under the
vaccination programme.
The Covid-19
vaccination programme at the union level will start across the country on
August 7, said Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday.
“The prime minister has
ordered speeding up the vaccination drive. One can get vaccinated at the union
level showing one's NID card. Vaccination centres will be set up in unions
across the country before August 7,” he said.
Those who do not have
any NID will be vaccinated under a special arrangement, he added.
Meanwhile, the
government has decided to vaccinate the Rohingya refugees as part of an
inclusive vaccination programme.
Although no start date
has been offered, those who are above 55 years will be considered in the first
phase as per a preliminary decision.
Foreign Secretary Masud
Bin Momen, while talking to reporters on Tuesday, said the host communities
around the Rohingya camps have frequent communication with the refugees and the
government wants to keep both protected as well.
Bangladesh will resume
vaccination with Oxford-Astrazeneca Covid jabs soon, DGHS spokesperson Prof Dr
Nazmul Islam said on Wednesday.
“We had to stop giving Astrazeneca vaccine to people halfway through due to its short supply. But we’re hopeful of resuming its rollout soon as we’ve received supplies from Japan,” he said at the regular DGHS briefing.
