Global Covid-19 cases surpass 381 million

Covid - 19. Covax - Delivery of syringes for the vaccination campaign in El Salvador. PAHO

Dhaka, Feb 2 -- The overall number of Covid cases has now surged past 381 million as Omicron infections keep rising across the globe.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 381,223,883 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,685,472 on Wednesday morning.

The US has recorded 75,316,209 cases so far and 890,528 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.

India's Covid-19 tally rose to 41,469,499 on Tuesday, as 167,059 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the data.

Meanwhile, Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January last year, registered 25,634,781 cases as of Wednesday, while its Covid death toll rose to 628,356.

Situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh recorded 31 more Covid-related deaths, with health authorities logging 13,154 fresh cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.

The daily positivity rate slightly declined to 29.17% from Monday’s 29.77% after testing 45,358 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,425 while the caseload mounted to 1,811,987.

Among the new deceased, 15 were men and 16 women. Nineteen deaths were reported in Dhaka division while seven in Chattogram, two in Sylhet, and one each in Rajshahi, Khulna and Rangpur divisions.

Meanwhile, the mortality rate further declined to 1.57%. However, the recovery rate also declined to 86.70%, with the recovery of 2,721 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Covid situation during January

In January, the country reported 322 Covid-linked deaths and 2,13,294 new cases while 19,112 recovered from the disease, according to DGHS.

Among the 322 deaths during the period, 234 were unvaccinated patients while 18 received the first dose, 68 the second dose and two the third dose.

On January 28, Bangladesh logged its earlier highest daily positivity rate at 33.37%, reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths.

Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 69 with the detection of five more cases till January 23, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.

Another two stormy weeks ahead

As the community transmission of Covid-19 fuelled by the highly virulent Omicron variant is going on in full swing across the country, public health experts warned that the uptrend in the virus infection may continue for two more weeks.

They also said the Covid positivity rate may hit a plateau in mid-February before a steep decline toward the end of the month.

On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.

The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.

Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year. – UNB