The overall number of global Covid cases is fast approaching 243 million even with mass inoculations underway in several countries.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 242,956,411 while the death tally from the virus reached 4,937,482 on Saturday morning.

The US has recorded 45, 400,320 cases to date and more than 735,371 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.

Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 21,711,843 cases as of Friday, while its Covid death toll rose to 605,139.

India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,143,236 on Friday, as 15,786 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry data.

Besides, 231 more deaths were recorded since Thursday morning, taking the death toll to 453,042.

Situation in Bangladesh

Covid-19 claimed four more lives and infected 232 people in Bangladesh in 24 hours till Friday morning.

The daily case positivity rate decreased further to 1.36 percent from Thursday’s  1.51 percent.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid fatalities reached 27,805 while the caseload climbed to 1,567,138 in Bangladesh, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Of the latest deaths, two were men and two women.

The new cases were detected after testing 17,100 samples during the 24-hour period.

Besides, the recovery rate rose slightly to 97.67  percent, with 564 more patients getting cured.