Covid-19: Global cases top 61.5 million

As the whole world is grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 61,585,651on Saturday, according to the data compiled by John Hopkins University (JHU).

Besides, 1,441, 875 people have died so far from the virus infection, the data showed, reports UNB.

Coronavirus is affecting 191 countries and territories around the world since the first cases were reported in China in December last year.

The US has reported 13,086,367 cases since the start of the pandemic while the death toll from the virus jumped to 264,842 as of Saturday.

Los Angeles County announced a new stay-home order Friday as coronavirus cases surged out of control in the nation’s most populous county, banning most gatherings but stopping short of a full shutdown on retail stores and other non-essential businesses, reports AP.

The three-week “safer at home” order takes effect Monday. It came as the county of 10 million residents confirmed 24 new deaths and 4,544 new confirmed cases of Covid-19.

The county had set a threshold for issuing the stay-home order: an average of 4,500 cases a day over a five-day period, but hadn’t expected to reach that level until next month.

By far, the United States remains the nation worst hit by the pandemic, with the world's most cases and deaths, making up more than 21 percent of the global caseload.

US Covid-19 cases hit 10 million on Nov. 9, and have since then increased at a pace of 1 million more cases about six days on average.

Thursday marked the 25th consecutive day that the US daily cases reported more than 100,000 since the beginning of November.

Brazil on Friday reported 514 more deaths from Covid-19, raising its total death toll to 171,974.

According to the Ministry of Health, tests detected 34,130 new cases, pushing the accumulated caseload to 6,238,350.

Brazil has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, next to the United States and India.

India is the third-worst affected country with 135,715 deaths and 9,309,787 confirmed cases.

Situation in Bangladesh

Amid the recent resurgence of Coronavirus pandemic across the globe, Bangladesh continues to report an upward trend in both new cases and deaths.

Health authorities on Thursday detected 2,273 new patients across the country in 24 hours, taking the total to 458,711.

During the period, 20 more patients died from Covid-19, raising the death toll to 6,544.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8. The infection number reached the 300,000-mark on August 26. The first death was reported on March 18 and the death toll exceeded 6,000 on November 4.

WHO Warning

Countries with decreasing Covid-19 numbers still need to stay "vigilant," a World Health Organization (WHO) official said Friday.

"Even as case numbers are coming down, all countries need to remain vigilant. You've heard of this before, but we really need to emphasize it again. Do not let your guard down," Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said during a virtual briefing.

“It's good to see the measures taking effect and transmission going down. But it's not time to let up. It's time to even scale up,” Van Kerkhove added, reports Xinhua.