Bangladesh’s curve of Covid-19 patients keeps rising alarmingly with the country crossing 4,000 cases on Thursday, just two days after it hit the grim 3,000 mark.
On April 21, the tally stood at 3,382, which figure leapt to 4,186 on Thursday with 414 new cases reported in the 24 hours until the afternoon.
At the same time, seven fresh fatalities pushed up the death toll from Covid-19 to 127.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque revealed the latest figures in a daily online bulletin on the coronavirus crisis on Thursday.
Meanwhile, 16 patients were released in the last 24 hours, taking the number of those who have recovered to 108. In the process, Bangladesh for the first time saw the recovery count going past the 100 mark.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death in the country on March 18, ten days after the first three Covid-19 positive cases.
‘No designated hospitals for VIPs’
The health minister brushed aside several media reports that the government was mulling providing treatment to VIPs at separate hospitals, saying no separate hospitals would be arranged or set up to treat them.
Maleque said: “We have noticed that several media outlets have published stories regarding separate hospitals being readied for VIPs amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. This is not true.
“I would urge them not to report on such issues without our official confirmation. As a result of such reports, there has been a misunderstanding which has no relation to government policy.”
It may be noted that recent news reports have claimed that the government wanted to treat VIPs infected with Covid-19 in designated hospitals, as health professionals were struggling to provide healthcare to the general public due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Denying the allegation, the minister said: “All hospitals remain open, and will not be closed. Regular treatments will continue.”
Maleque urged government employees not to make statements to the media without the permission of the higher authorities.
“No hospital has been locked down and the medicine supply is adequate,” the minister added.
On a separate note, he mentioned that a decision had been taken by the government to take action against sales of fake masks.
‘Bangladesh still doing better’
Claiming that Bangladesh was in a better condition than many other countries in the fight against Covid-19, Maleque said: “45 days into the coronavirus infection, Bangladesh has lost 120 patients, whereas within the same period around 11,000 people have died in Italy.”
Considering the total count of Covid-19 patients confirmed in the first 44 days since the country reported the initial three cases on March 8, the minister on Wednesday said the tally in Bangladesh had been many folds lower than that in Italy, France and the US.
‘Bangladesh logging 1,000 cases rapidly’
After the first official announcement of three people contracting the virus on March 8, it took Bangladesh 38 days to exceed the first 1,000 cases. The number crossed the 2,000 limit just four days later, on April 18.
The harrowing 3000 milestone came even faster – just three days apart on April 21, while the latest and fourth 1,000 cases logged in just two days.
However, it must be noted that a significant increase in the number of tests since April only led to a leap in positive cases.
Moving fast
Bangladesh has been registering new cases faster than many badly-affected countries. According to Worldometer, the South Asian nation spent 47 days to go past 4,000 Covid-19 cases.
Entering the 4,000 mark within just 36 days, Italy is the fastest of the top six most-affected countries, having at least 100,000 cases each as of 6:30pm on Thursday.
Spain ranked second as it required 12 more days, whereas the USA is the slowest since it took the country the highest (56) number of days to reach the same level.
On Thursday, the total number of Covid-19 cases recorded stood at 2,667,532 worldwide. The deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus has claimed 186,252 lives and so far 730,920 patients have recovered.