Bangladesh has reported its deadliest week yet in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 1,500 deaths and more than 83,000 cases in the past seven days.
A total of 1,480 deaths have been reported in the seven days to Saturday, up by 15.90% from the previous week, according to figures by the Directorate General of Health Services.
During the same time, more than 200 deaths were logged every day except for Friday with the single-day count hitting a new high of 230 on Sunday.
As many as 83,096 people contracted Covid-19 during the same time, a 13.74% hike from the previous week.
Also Read - Bangladesh records 204 more Covid deaths, 8,489 new cases
However, the daily coronavirus cases dropped to a two-week low on Saturday. The daily caseload stood at 8,489 infections with 204 new deaths recorded.
The health authorities say it expects single-day cases to fall further this week as an outcome of the two-week strict lockdown from July 1, which has now been lifted for nine days due to Eid.
“However, the infection rate may shoot up after the Eid holidays,” said Mizanur Rahman, the director for MIS at the Directorate General of Health Services.
Dhaka logged 4,480 cases, the highest among the eight divisions on Saturday followed by Chittagong with 1,885 cases, Khulna with 539, and Rajshahi with 589.
It also reported the highest 82 deaths among the divisions, followed by Khulna with 49 deaths.
Chittagong division counted 32 deaths while Rajshahi had 20, Rangpur 10, Barisal five, Mymensingh four, and Sylhet two.
The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.62%.
Overall Bangladesh has recorded a little over 1.09 million cases, including 17,669 deaths since the pandemic began.