With no respite from the coronavirus pandemic in sight, Bangladesh, in the last 24 hours, recorded 39 deaths and 3,946 new cases of the deadly virus across the country.
With the latest figure, the number of total fatalities so far rose to 1,621 and the total number of identified cases in the country now stands at 126,606.
Additional Director General (Administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Prof Nasima Sultana, revealed the latest data from Dhaka on Thursday, in a daily online bulletin on the Covid-19 situation.
The DGHS official said, between Wednesday and Thursday, a total of 17,537 samples – the highest to date – were tested in 61 authorized labs across the country.
On June 17, Bangladesh for the first time crossed the 4,000 mark by recording 4,008 new cases – highest in 24 hours.
With 3,946 of the tests coming back positive, the detection rate of new patients in the last 24 hours stood at 21.9%, Prof Nasima said.
“As many as 681,443 Covid-19 tests have so far been conducted,” she added.
Most fatalities in Dhaka, Chittagong
Prof Nasima said of the 39 deceased – 32 men and seven women – 10 were from Dhaka division, 10 from Chittagong, two from Barisal, three from Mymensingh, four from Rangpur, and five each from Rajshahi, Khulna divisions.
According to data of the last few weeks, Dhaka and Chittagong divisions have accounted for the lion’s share of Covid-19 casualties in the country.
“Unless we can ensure that all of our people are wearing masks while being outdoors, coronavirus cannot be stopped,” she added.
On June 16, the country recorded 53 deaths from the deadly Covid-19 infection, the highest number of deaths recorded in the country in a single day, to date.
Deaths from the coronavirus infection crossed the 1,000 mark in Bangladesh on June 10 while the country recorded the first fatality on March 18. The country crossed the 100 mark in deaths on April 20.
Patients above 50 account for most deaths
Prof Nasima said two of the deceased were between 21 and 30, one between 31 and 40, seven between 41 and 50 years of age, nine between 51 and 60, 12 in their 61 and 70, seven between 71 and 80, and one over 80.
“Of the victims, 28 died in different hospitals, 11 at home. The death toll accounts for 1.28% of the total infected,” she added.
The age-wise distribution of the deaths quite clearly indicates that those aged above 50 are at higher risk of dying from coronavirus infection than others.
Recovery rate 40.67%
In the briefing, the DGHS official also said that 1,829 more Covid-19 patients recovered from the infection in the past 24 hours.
So far, 51,495 people -- 40.67% of the total infected -- have made full recovery from the deadly virus.
“A total of 645 people have been kept in isolation in the past 24 hours while 374 were released. Currently, 13,429 people are in isolation.
“Meanwhile, at the same time, another 2,656 people have been put under home and institutional quarantine while 2,618 were released. At present, 63,998 people under quarantine across the country,” she added.
On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first case of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by the new strain of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2. The virus broke out in China's Wuhan in December 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
Till now the fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 485,000 lives and infected more than 9,556,000 people globally, according to worldometer.
As many as 5,196,000 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the world.