Staff Correspondent: Dhaka, Aug-05,

The global Covid-19 caseload has now surged past the grim milestone of 200 million, as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to devastate several countries even with mass inoculations underway.

The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 200,136,419 and 4,254,976, respectively, as of Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

So far, 4,265,470,393 Covid vaccine doses have been administered across the globe, as per the university data.

The US has logged 35,331,683 cases and 614,797 deaths to date, according to the university data. The death toll in the United States is the highest in the world.

India recorded the world's second largest caseload of 31,769,132, followed by Brazil with 20,026,533 cases as well as the world's second largest death toll of 559,607. Besides, India’s death toll reached 425,757 on Thursday morning.

Countries with more than four million cases include Russia, France, Britain, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Italy and Iran, while those with over 100,000 deaths include India, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Britain, Italy, Colombia and France.

The global caseload reached the grim milestone of 100 million on January 26, and doubled in more than half a year.

Situation in Bangladesh

As the Covid infection rate continues to swell in Bangladesh, the country recorded 241 more deaths in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.

According to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 13,817 more people came out positive with the virus during the period after the test of 49,514 samples.

The fresh numbers have pushed the country’s death tally to 21,638, with the caseload mounting to 1,309,910.

Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate fell slightly to 27.91 % from Tuesday’s 28.58%, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.

The recovery rate, however, rose to 87.12%, and the case fatality remained static at 1.65% compared to the same period, said the DGHS.

With the vaccination drive slowly gaining momentum, 216,534 people got their first Sinopharm jab during the period.

Besides, 11,898, 10,931 and 1,026 people  received their second dose of Astrazeneca, Sinopharm and Moderna vaccines, respectively, during this period.

Bangladesh is planning to vaccinate one crore people during a special drive from August 7 to 12.

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