Bangladesh has witnessed its deadliest week since the first Covid-19 patients died in March last year, with 134 new deaths on Saturday taking the weekly death toll to 859.
More than 100 people have died from the virus every day since June 28, taking the seven-day moving average of deaths in the country to its highest level of 122.71. The seven-day moving average crossed 100 in the fourth week of April.
The caseload surged to 936,256 after 6,214 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8am on Saturday. The latest deaths took the overall toll to 14,912.
The infection rate in the 24 hours stood at 27.39%, with 22,687 tests conducted, according to figures released by the health authorities.
The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected currently stands at 1.59%.
Meanwhile, another 3,777 patients recovered from the infectious disease in the 24 hours till yesterday morning, taking the total number of recoveries to 829,199 — 88.57% of all infected.
To date, 6,693,681 tests have been conducted in Bangladesh, leading to an overall test positivity rate of 14%.
Of the 134 new deceased, 84 were men and 50 were women. As many as 127 of them died at different hospitals, while seven died at home.
Altogether 39 of them died in Khulna division, 38 in Dhaka, 23 in Rajshahi, 15 in Rangpur, 11 in Chittagong, 4 in Mymensingh, three in Barisal and one in Sylhet.
So far, 10,580 men (71%) and 4,332 women (29%) have died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has seen a record surge in deaths and cases this week with a record high of 143 fatalities reported on Thursday and 8,882 infections — the biggest single-day jump — the previous day.
Khulna records highest deaths among all divisions
Khulna, the new virus hotspot, once again recorded the highest number of deaths among the eight the divisions.
A total of 539 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the 10 districts, taking the number of infected patients in the division to 59,260 since the pandemic began.
With 39 more fatalities reported afresh during the period, the total death toll from the deadly disease reached 1,385.
Among the 32 fatalities, reported from seven districts in the division, 11 were in Jessore, seven in Khulna, eight in Kushtia, four in Jhenaidah, three in Chuadanga, two each in Narail and Meherpur, and one in Bagerhat districts in the division.
“Among the infected people, 39,652 have so far been cured of the lethal virus, with 298 new cases of recovery found this morning,” said Dr Rasheda, divisional director of Health in Khulna, adding that a total of 7,699 infected patients were now undergoing treatment at different designated hospitals.
A total of 426 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in seven districts of Rajshahi division on Saturday, taking the caseload to 58,013. A total of 23 people died in the division.