Global Covid-19 death toll nearing 2 million

Believe it or not, the global death toll from Covid-19 is fast approaching 2 million. The global cases have already surged past 90.8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The global caseload and the death toll stood at 90,872,905 and 1,943,943, respectively, as of Tuesday morning, the university's latest data showed.

In the US, considered the worst-hit country, more than 376,051 people have lost their lives so far, while the confirmed cases in the North American country have soared to 22,612,384.

The US is entering the second month of the biggest vaccination drive in history, with a major expansion of the campaign, opening football stadiums, major league ballparks, fairgrounds and convention centres to inoculate a larger and more diverse pool of people, reports AP.

About nine million Americans have received their first shot, or 2.7% of the US population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say as much as 85% of the population will have to be inoculated to achieve "herd immunity" and vanquish the outbreak.

Many states are responding by throwing open the line to other groups and ramping up the pace of vaccinations.

Brazil on Monday said it registered 480 fatalities from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 203,580.

Some 25,822 new cases of the disease were detected in the same 24-hour period, bringing the country's total caseload to 8,131,612, said the Ministry of Health in its daily pandemic report.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid death toll, ranking only second to the US, and the third-largest outbreak, following the US and India.

The nation has been experiencing a second wave of the pandemic that has resulted in an increase in cases and deaths since December.

Last week, Brazil set a record for daily caseload of 87,843 and registered the second-highest single-day death toll of 1,524 since the start of the pandemic.

Besides, India's total death toll mounted to 151,160, while the cases soared to 10,466,595 on Tuesday morning.

Bangladesh Situation

Bangladesh saw a daily infection rate of 6.02%, with 849 new cases reported until early Monday.

The country recorded a daily infection rate of 8.29% on January 10, 7.52% on January 4, and 8.18% on January 1. And Bangladesh has recorded 523,302 cases so far.

Also, the country's fatality number rose to 7,803 and death rate to 1.49%, with 22 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, since the first death was reported on March 18.

The country's infection number reached the 500,000-mark on December 20. The first cases were reported on March 8. The death toll exceeded 7,000 on December 12.

Vaccine race in Bangladesh

On January 7, the government approved the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

The approval will allow Beximco Pharmaceuticals to bring doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing the vaccine, Mohammad Salahuddin, deputy director of the Directorate General of Drug Administration, said.

On December 13, the government signed an agreement with SII for procuring the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Under the deal, Bangladesh will import 3 crore doses of SARS-Cov-2 AZD 1222 (Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine) from SII in the next six months.

"If everything goes well, we will get the vaccines in mid-January," Health Minister Zahid Maleques said.

The process to bring the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine would start in January next, said Zahid, adding a decision was taken in principle that SII would provide the vaccine at the same price they would procure it.