Staff Correspondent: Dhaka, Sept-04,

 The overall number of global Covid cases is fast nearing 220 million, as the world is still struggling to contain the second wave of the pandemic even with mass inoculations underway.

According to US-based Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 219,739,748  and the death toll reached 4,552,477 on Saturday morning.

So far, 5,402,742,641 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.

The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 39,848,170 cases. Besides, 647,573 people have lost their lives in the US to date, as per the JHU data.

The current seven-day moving average of daily new cases in the United States was over 150,000, up 4.9 percent from the previous week, according to the latest weekly report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports Xinhua.

The current seven-day moving average was 153,246, which was 123.6 percent higher than the figure observed approximately one year ago and 1,217.0 percent higher than the lowest record on June 18, 2021, said the report.

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 country has recorded 20,856,060 cases with 582,670 fatalities so far, according to the health ministry.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 32,903,289 on Friday, as 45,352 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.

Besides, as many as 366 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total fatalities to 439,895

Most single-day new cases and deaths were reported from the southern state of Kerala, where 32,097 new cases and 188 deaths were reported alone in 24 hours.

Covid situation in Bangladesh

Maintaining the downtrend in the pandemic situation, Bangladesh reported 70 Covid-related deaths and 3,167 new cases in 24 hours till Friday morning.

However, the positivity rate rose a bit to 10.76% from Thursday’s 10.40% during the period.

Bangladesh logged 88 Covid-19 deaths and 3,436 cases on Thursday.

The fresh numbers pushed the country’s total fatalities to 264,32, while the cases reached 15.10,283, according to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The country last saw 112 coronavirus-related deaths on June 29 and the upswing in the fatalities reached its peak on August 5 and 10, when 264 deaths were recorded.

The new cases were detected after testing 29,438 samples in 24 hours, the DGHS said.

However, the situation was much more catastrophic from June to the better part of August as the country experienced a surge in Covid-related caseloads and deaths during that time.

Between May and June this year, there was a 273% rise in monthly caseloads and 162% in fatalities. In July, there was a 150% increase in caseloads and a 170% rise in deaths compared to the previous month, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Bangladesh to reopen schools

Primary, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions in the country will reopen on September 12 after a prolonged closure, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Friday.

“The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the Education Ministry, Ministry of Primary and Mass education and the National Technical Advisory Committee held on Thursday night,” she said at a function in Chandpur sadar upazila.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to reopen all the schools, colleges, including madrasas, on September 12 as per the decision,” Dipu Moni said.

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