Death toll smashed again

• Death toll crosses 15,000

• 153 more died

• 8,661 new infected

• Infection rate 28.99pc

Bangladesh has yet again recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began while surpassing the 15,000 mark. The health authorities reported 153 deaths in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, taking the total number of deaths to 15,065.

The new record surpassed the previous high of 143 on Thursday. The country saw the death toll to rise by 1,000 in only nine days. Previously, it took at least 10 days to cross the mark when the country battled the second wave of pandemic in April.

The Covid-19 hotspot Khulna reported 51 deaths, the most among the eight divisions, followed by Dhaka with 46 deaths. Chittagong and Rangpur divisions counted 15 deaths each while Rajshahi 12, Mymensingh nine, Barisal three, and Sylhet two.

Meanwhile, another 8,661 people tested positive over the 24-hour period as the number of total infections rose to 944,917 in the country.

Dhaka logged 4,207 cases, the highest among the divisions followed Khulna with 1,304 cases and  Rajshahi with 992, according to the latest figures by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). As many as 29,879 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 28.99pc. The overall test positivity rate in the country now stands at 14.05pc.

On the other hand, another 4,698 patients recovered from the infectious disease across the country, taking the total number of recovery to 833,897.

Of the 153 deceased – 96 men and 57 women – 70 were aged above 60, 45 aged between 51 and 60, 24 aged between 41 and 50, 11 aged between 31 and 40, and three in 21-30 age group.

The pandemic has, so far, claimed the lives of 10,676 men (70.87pc) and 4,389 women (29.13pc). 

The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.59pc.

In the 24 hours to Sunday, 1,051 people received second dose of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine, taking the total number of people receiving second dose of vaccine to 4,290,964. Meanwhile, a total of 5,820,015 people received first dose of the vaccine.

Additionally, 7,707 people received first dose of Sinopharm vaccine over the same period, taking the total to 71,008 till Sunday while the total number of people receiving the second dose of the vaccine stands at 2,237. 

Meanwhile, 942 people received the As many as 240 people received first dose of Pfizer vaccine till now, taking the total to 1,866. The health authorities in Bangladesh in March 8, 2020 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.

Since November last year, five variants of the virus have been detected in Bangladesh including the Indian variant (B.1.617.2) being the latest. It was later renamed as the Delta variant. The rest of the variants identified in the country are the UK (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), Nigeria (B.1.525) and Brazilian (P1) variants of the coronavirus.

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 more than 3,989,000 lives and infected as many as 184,344,000 people across the world till Sunday afternoon, according to Worldometer.

As many as 168,697,000 people have recovered from Covid-19 which has spread to 220 countries and territories across the planet.