Health authorities have confirmed that another 41 Covid-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the deadly disease to 1,888 in Bangladesh.
Between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, 3,775 more people also tested positive for Covid-19, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 149,258.
Sharing the latest data, Prof Nasima Sultana, an 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 19.03%.
Addressing the daily online briefing from Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon, she also said that 2,484 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.
So far, a total of 62,102 patients — 41.61% of all infected — made full recovery around the country, since the first Covid-19 cases were recorded on March 8.
Of the 41 new deceased – 38 were men and three were women – 23 died in different hospitals and 18 at home.
Of the total, 12 died in Dhaka division, 17 in Chittagong, three in Barisal, two in Sylhet, and one in Rangpur, said Prof Nasima.
She added that the mortality rate was 1.26% against total cases detected so far.
To date, among the deceased – 43.27% are above 60-year old, 28.88% are between 51 and 60, 14.99% are between 41 and 50, 7.62% are between 31 and 40, 3.49% are between 21 and 30, 1.16% are between 11 and 20 and 0.63% are below the age of 10.
Daily test positivity over 21%
DGHS official Prof Nasima said as many as 16,898 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients around the country in the last 24 hours.
During the same period, 17,875 samples including previous collections were tested in 69 labs – a private lab of International Medical College, Gazipur was newly added to the list -- across the country, and 3,775 of them or 21.12% tested positive, she said.
In total, 784,335 tests have been conducted so far — of which 19.03% tested positive, she added.
Prof Nasima said 955 more people were taken to isolation between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings across the country, while 555 were released. Currently, 15,547 people are in isolation around the country.
Till Wednesday, 27,542 people were sent into isolation, and 11,995 released.
In the last 24 hours, another 2,429 people were put in quarantine and 3,414 were released. At present, 63,882 people are quarantined across the country.
Till Wednesday, 366,295 people were quarantined, and 302,413 released.
Hospitals and PPEs
“The government now has 130,181 personal protective equipment (PPE) in reserve. And till now, we have distributed 2,398,064 PPEs to front line workers,” the DGHS official said.
The dedicated hospitals in Dhaka city have 6,075 general and 139 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds. Other dedicated hospitals across the country have 14,748 general and 381 ICU beds in total.
Across the country, 4,873 general and 216 ICU beds are occupied. In the last 24 hours, 538 patients were admitted and 497 were released from the hospitals, she added.
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, number of total cases had crossed the 100,000 mark.
On June 30, the country had recorded 64 deaths, which is the highest in a 24-hour span till now.
The day before, 4,014 cases 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 Wednesday afternoon, the fast spreading virus infected more than 10.59 million people and claimed over 514,070 lives in 213 countries and territories across the globe, according to worldometer.