Cases, deaths mounting outside Dhaka

The Indian variant (Delta) of coronavirus has spread to 10 districts as the variant already had a community transmission. Infections are increasing rapidly in border districts due to this more contagious variant of coronavirus.

This indicates that the situation might deteriorate further in the near future. Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Sunday said that the increasing number of deaths is raising concerns.

In the meantime, the district-level hospitals unable to provide adequate facilities as Covid-19 patients have been rushing into the hospitals especially which are near borders. The situation turned worse since increase in the infection rates in the frontier district of Chapainawabganj, where the district administration imposed a seven-day lockdown on May 25.

Prof Robed Amin, one of the spokespersons for DGHS Covid-19 management, at the Covid-19 bulletin on Sunday afternoon said in the last 24 hours 43 people have died and a good number of them were reported from Rajshahi Medical College Hospital or its surrounding areas, the professor said. 

On May 26, 17 people died of Covid-19. Prof Robed Amin said that the death rate in the last one month had climbed to 1.5pc. 

Analyzing the Covid-19 situation, he noted, it could be said the health authorities had been able to control the difficult situation in April. May was comparatively stable as well, said Prof Robed. 

However, early indications in June show that in this month things might not be the same, he warned, urging all to wear facemasks and follow health rules regularly.

Prof Robed Amin, who is also director (Non Communicable Disease Control) of DGHS, while referring to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said the Indian variant, recently named as delta variant by WHO, had started community transmission in different areas of the country, including areas bordering India.

Naogaon, which identified its first Covid-19 case on 13 May last year, recorded a 47.86pc positivity rate and three deaths from the novel coronavirus on last Tuesday, the highest daily toll reported by the district so far.

Dhaka, on the other hand, registered a positivity rate of 10.73pc. A number of districts outside Dhaka especially those situated near the India-Bangladesh border have been reporting an increasing number of infections and deaths since Eid-al-Fitr.

On 28 May, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) found evidence of community transmission after identifying the Indian Covid-19 variant in seven patients of Chapainawabganj who never visited India.

Then 31 May, the Genome Centre of Jashore University of Science and Technology found this particular variant in eight patients of the district, and none of them have ever visited the neighbouring country.

Bangladesh first identified the Indian variant on 8 May in two people who returned from India. So far, the IEDCR has recorded 31 cases of this variant in this country till date. Experts warn that if the bordering districts do not implement stricter measures to curb the infections, Covid-19 situation across the entire country will spin out of control.

Both new cases and fatalities of Covid-19 have taken an upward trend in Bangladesh. The country registered 41 more deaths and 1,765 new cases in the 24-hour period till 8am Tuesday.

With these figures, the death toll reached 12,660 and the caseload stood at 802,305, says the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Besides, the overall positivity rate was 9.67pc and the death rate was 1.58pc in the 24-hour period.

The overall positivity rate has been hovering near 9%-10% since last week and daily cases have increased from 1,400 to 1,700 during this period. Death toll has also increased from 17 to 41.

Most of the Covid-19 deaths are now occurring in divisions outside Dhaka, especially in Chattogram and Rajshahi.

On the issue, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) Director Brig Gen Dr Shamim Yazdani said, “The number of Covid-19 patients is going up every day. The positivity rate in Rajshahi stood at 50pc on Tuesday. If strict lockdown is not imposed here, the number of patients will increase significantly across the country and we would have to wait for a disaster to happen.”