Amid devastations in populous countries India and Brazil, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has crossed a grim mark of 150 million after the first COVID-19 case was detected in China more than a year ago.
The death toll from the pandemic disease also reached 3.167 million while 87.6 million patients recovered until Friday, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University, reports bdnews24.com.
It took only 12 days for the world to record the last 10 million cases of the coronavirus, with India responsible for more than half of the world’s daily COVID-19 cases, setting a record-breaking pace of more than 300,000 a day.
Months ago, India appeared to be weathering the pandemic. After a harsh initial lockdown, the country did not see an explosion in new cases and deaths comparable to those in other countries.
But after the early restrictions were lifted, many Indians stopped taking precautions. Large gatherings, including political rallies and religious festivals, resumed and drew millions of people.
Brazil on Thursday became the second country to pass 400,000 COVID-19 deaths after the United States, and experts warned the daily toll could remain high for several months due to slow vaccinations and loosening social restrictions.
Bangladesh is also experiencing a second wave of infections that forced the government to put the country on a lockdown on Apr 5 and extend it several times to May 5.
After a record surge in coronavirus cases and deaths, Bangladesh on Friday reported more than 2,000 new patients in the daily count with 57 deaths, showing signs that the lockdown measures are working.
But experts have suggested looking for alternatives to lockdown as the harsh measures have affected the livelihood of the poor heavily. Transport workers on Friday threatened protests if public transport services are not allowed to reopen.
