The overall number of global Covid cases is fast approaching 244 million amid the global race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease.

According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 243,657,129 while the death tally from the virus reached 4,948,512 on Monday morning.

The US has recorded 45,444,260 cases to date and more than 735,941 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 21,729,763 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 605,644.

India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 34,175,468 on Sunday, as 15,906 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, the health ministry’s latest data showed.

Besides, as many as 561 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 454,269.

Most of deaths, 464, were reported from the southern state of Kerala. “More than 70 percent cases (deaths) due to comorbidities,” said the data released by the health ministry of India.

Meanwhile, Russia is reporting an increasing number of coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths as the country approaches a week of nonworking days aimed at stemming the sharp surge in cases.

Russia has registered 35,660 COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 8,241,643, the official monitoring and response center said Sunday. The nationwide death toll grew by 1,072 to 230,600.

Situation in Bangladesh

Covid-19 claimed nine more lives and infected another 275 people in Bangladesh in 24 hours till Sunday morning.

The daily-case positivity rate declined slightly to 1.49 per cent from Saturday’s 1.85 per cent.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid fatalities reached 27,823 while the caseload climbed to 1,567,692 in Bangladesh, according to the Directorate General of the Health services (DGHS).

Of the latest deaths, three were men and six were women.

The new cases were detected after testing 18,499 samples during the 24-hour period.

However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent compared to the same period.

Also, the recovery rate increased slightly to 97.68 per cent, with 364 more patients getting cured.