Health authorities have confirmed that another 45 Covid-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the deadly disease to 1,783 in Bangladesh.
Between Sunday and Monday mornings, 4,014 more people also tested positive for Covid-19, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 141,801.
Sharing the latest data, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said that at present the total infection rate against the number of total tests was 18.96%.
Addressing the daily online briefing from Dhaka on Monday afternoon, she also said that 253 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.
So far, a total of 57,780 patients — 40.75% of all infected — made full recovery around the country, since the first Covid-19 cases were recorded on March 8.
Of the 45 new deceased, 36 were men and nine women.
Thirty died in different hospitals and 14 at home, while one died on the way to the hospital.
Of the total, 22 died in Dhaka division, 10 in Chittagong, five in Khulna, three each in Sylhet, and Barisal and one each in Rajshahi and Mymensingh, said Prof Nasima.
She added that the mortality rate was 1.26% against total cases detected so far.
Daily test positivity over 22%
DGHS official Prof Nasima said as many as 14,413 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients around the country in the last 24 hours.
During the same period, 17,837 samples including previous collections were tested in 65 labs across the country, and 4,014 of them or 22.50% tested positive, she said.
In total, 784,034 tests have been conducted so far — of which 18.96% tested positive, she added.
A new Covid-19 testing lab started operating in Gulshan, taking the total number of labs to 68 across the country.
Prof Nasima said 1,028 more people were taken to isolation between Sunday and Monday mornings across the country, while 609 were released. Currently, 14,942 people are in isolation around the country.
Till Monday, 25,838 people were sent into isolation, and 10,896 released.
In the last 24 hours, another 3,053 people were put in quarantine and 2,692 were released. At present, 64,959 people are quarantined across the country.
Till Monday, 361,224 people were quarantined, and 296,365 released.
Mothers to wear masks while breastfeeding
Nasima Sultana advised mothers to wear masks while breastfeeding and carrying her baby.
She also acknowledged pregnant women as a vulnerable group and advised to ensure regular checkups while maintaining proper health safety measures.
She urged the family members and near ones of mothers to take special care of their safety. They should wear masks, avoid gatherings, and wash hands with soap whenever they go outside.
She informed that children under five years of age are being provided Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) services at all the union health and family welfare centres, upazila health complexes, and district sadar hospitals.
Hospitals and PPEs
“The government now has 147,081 personal protective equipment (PPE) in reserve. Till now the government has collected 2,528,245 PPEs. And till now, we have distributed 2,381,164 PPEs to frontline workers,” the DGHS official said.
“There are also enough general and ICU beds available in all hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 treatment,” she claimed.
The dedicated hospitals in Dhaka city have 6,015 general and 134 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds.
Other dedicated hospitals across the country have 14,690 general and 374 ICU beds in total.
Across the country, 4,881 general and 213 ICU beds are occupied, said Prof Nasima.
She also claimed: “Beds are empty in all dedicated hospitals. Anyone can call the DGHS control room for information or to get support for admission in any of the hospitals.”
Looking back
On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh had 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 country recorded its first fatality on March 18.
On June 10, Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh had crossed the 1,000 mark, and on June 18, the number of total cases had crossed the 100,000 mark.
On June 17, the country had recorded 4,008 cases, which was the highest in a 24-hour span till Monday.
On June 16, 53 deaths were recorded, which is the highest in a single day till now.
The novel coronavirus had broken out in China's Wuhan city in late December last year and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
Until Monday evening, the fast-spreading virus infected more than 10 million people and claimed over 504,754 lives in 213 countries and territories across the globe, according to worldometer.