Bangladesh has recorded its highest-ever daily jump in Covid-19 cases as well as the second highest fatalities in a day since the pandemic broke out in March last year
A total of 6,469 people tested positive in the 24 hours till Thursday morning as the country crossed the 6,000-mark for the first time.
The country also logged a total of 59 deaths, which is the highest number of deaths in nine months. On June 30 last, the number of fatalities in a single day was 64.
With the latest development, the total number of deaths reached 9,105 while total infections stood at 617,764 in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest figures on Covid-19 in the country with a press release on Thursday.
Besides, Thursday’s test positivity rate – 22.94% – is the highest recorded in the last seven months.
It was on August 9 last year that the country recorded a higher infection rate – 23.12%.
The daily infection rate was below 5% for about two months this year but it started to rise from the second week of March.
It saw a rise on Wednesday as it jumped to 19.9% from 18.94% the previous day and this indicates that the trend of the pandemic is upward.
Comparison between February and March
While comparing the data on Covid-19 between February and March, it is increasingly evident that the Covid-19 situation in the country took a turn for the worse in recent weeks.
The total number of cases recorded in February was 11,077 with 395.61 cases per day on average while it was 65,079 in March with an average of 2,099.32, showing a huge spike in numbers.
Meanwhile, in February a total of 281 deaths was recorded with 10.04 deaths per day on average while in March it was 638 with an average of 20.58.
Deaths
The 7-day moving average of daily deaths in the country stood at 44, which is the highest since August 29 last when it was 42.71. On August 28, it was 44.71.
Of the 59 deceased – 35 men and 24 women – 40 were from Dhaka division; five each from Chittagong and Sylhet; four from Khulna; two each from Rajshahi and Rangpur; and one from Barisal division.
Of the victims, 57 died at different hospitals and two at home.
So far, 6,847 men (75.2%) and 2,258 women (24.8%) have died from Covid-19 across the country.
Since the beginning, 5,192 people have died in Dhaka division, 1,645 in Chittagong, 506 in Rajshahi, 586 in Khulna, 274 in Barisal, 325 in Sylhet, 376 in Rangpur, and 201 in Mymensingh.
The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.47%.
Recoveries
The health authorities said 2,539 people had recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours.
So far, 544,938 patients – 88.21% – have made full recovery across the country.
As many as 28,198 samples, including the pending ones, were tested in the 226 authorized labs -- government and private -- across the country.
The overall infection rate of the country stands at 13.15%.
Currently, 11,967 people are in isolation and 38,175 are in quarantine.
On March 8 last year, the health authorities in Bangladesh 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 novel coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan city in late December 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
The fast spreading coronavirus has claimed 2,830,627 lives and infected 129,594,382 people across the world till Thursday afternoon, according to Worldometer.
As many as 104,500,042 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 220 countries and territories across the planet.