Global Covid-19 death count surpasses 3 million-mark

The global coronavirus death toll has surpassed the grim three million on Saturday, as the race for immunisation continues and countries like India grapple with rising infections and new lockdowns.

According to Wordometer coronavirus data, the total count of fatalities now stands at 3,012,658, with the US being the world's worst-hit country, with 579,942 reported deaths as per the updated information. 

The virus that surfaced in late 2019 in central China and the ensuing pandemic has infected 140,548,229 million people, leaving billions more under crippling lockdowns and ravaging the global economy.

India is counted as the second-worst country in terms of cases after the US and fourth in terms of deaths after the US, Brazil and Mexico.

India's capital New Delhi went into a weekend lockdown Saturday as the world's second-most populous nation faces more than 200,000 fresh daily cases and families clamouring for drugs and hospital beds.

The US is averaging nearly 70,000 new daily coronavirus cases, up from about 53,000 just four weeks ago, CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky was quoted by AP as saying.

Hospitalisations have been trending higher, and deaths were up for the third day in a row. Along with relaxed restrictions on gatherings and indoor dining, the emergence of variants that spread more easily is part of the reason for the worsening trend.

Brazil has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January and it has the world's second-largest pandemic death toll after the US. The country's total case tally crossed 13,832,455 while the death toll climbed to 368,749 on Saturday morning, as per the official figures.

Hopes that South Asian countries might have seen the worst of the pandemic have been dashed, with India recording over two million new cases this month alone and Bangladesh and Pakistan imposing new shutdowns.

On 16 April, Bangladesh has reached a new peak with 101 deaths for the first time, although the number of new cases remained below the 5,000-mark.

The death toll now stands at 10,182 with a mortality rate of 1.43 percent and with 4,417 new cases, the daily infection rate has climbed to 23.36 percent.

So far, 711,779 cases have been confirmed, with 602,908 recoveries (84.7 percent of all patients), according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March that year.