Covid cases at new high, deaths also spike

The country Thursday witnessed its highest-ever daily jump in Covid-19 cases as well as the second highest fatalities in a day since the pandemic broke out in March last year. Bangladesh yesterday reported a record daily rise of 6,469 coronavirus cases, taking its total to 617,764 as the country has been experiencing a rising trend of virus infections over the past few days.

Besides, the country reported 59 more deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure since 30 June last year when the health department reported 64 deaths from the dreaded virus. The country’s death toll from the virus now stands at 9,105.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest figures on Covid-19 in the country with a press release on Thursday. Besides, Thursday’s test positivity rate – 22.94pc – is the highest recorded in the last seven months.

It was August 9 last when the country had recorded a higher infection rate – 23.12pc. The daily infection rate was below 5pc for about two months this year but it started to rise from the second week of March.

It saw a rise on Wednesday as it jumped to 19.9pc from 18.94pc the previous day and this indicates that the trend of the pandemic is upward. The 7-day moving average of daily deaths in the country stood at 44 which is the highest since August 29 last when it was 42.71. On August 28, it was 44.71.

Of the 59 deceased – 35 men and 24 women – 40 were from Dhaka division; five each from Chittagong and Sylhet; four from Khulna; two each from Rajshahi and Rangpur; and one from Barisal division.

Of the victims, 57 died at different hospitals and two at home. So far, 6,847 men (75.2pc) and 2,258 women (24.8pc) have died from Covid-19 across the country. 

Since the beginning, 5,192 people have died in Dhaka division, 1,645 in Chittagong, 506 in Rajshahi, 586 in Khulna, 274 in Barisal, 325 in Sylhet, 376 in Rangpur, and 201 in Mymensingh. The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.47pc.

The health authorities said 2,539 people recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours. So far, 544,938 patients – 88.21pc – have made full recovery across the country.

As many as 28,198 samples, including the pending ones, were tested in the 226 authorized labs -- government and private -- across the country. The overall infection rate of the country stands at 13.15pc. Currently, 11,967 people are in isolation and 38,175 are quarantined.

On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus strain which was later named Sars-CoV-2.

The novel coronavirus broke out in China’s Wuhan city in late December, 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months. The fast spreading coronavirus has claimed 2,830,627 lives and infected 129,594,382 people across the world till Thursday afternoon, according to Worldometer.

As many as 104,500,042 people have recovered from Covid-19 which has spread to 220 countries and territories across the planet.