The daily Covid-19 infection rate in Bangladesh climbed over 30% with 7,614 new cases detected in the 24 hours till 8am on Wednesday morning, overshadowing the Eid-ul-Azha celebrations.
A total 24,974 samples were tested at authorized laboratories across the country over the period, amounting to a test positivity rate 30.48%, according to a press release from the Directorate General of Health Services.
The latest positive tests took the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 1,136,503. Meanwhile, 173 deaths in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning took the overall death toll to 18,494.
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Among the new deceased, one person was over the age of 91, while 10 people were in the 81-90 age group, 35 in the 71-80 group, 43 in the 61-70 group, 42 in the 51-60 group, 22 in the 41-50 group, 12 in the 31-40 group, six in the 21-30 group, and two in the 11-20 age group.
Dhaka division reported the highest 58 deaths, Khulna 38, Chattogram 32, Rangpur 16, Rajshahi 11, Barishal eight, Sylhet six, and Mymensingh four.
The overall mortality rate stood at 1.63%.
Among the newly detected cases, the highest 2,720 were reported in Dhaka division, followed by 2,183 in Chittagong, 981 in Khulna, 445 in Sylhet, 421 in Rangpur, 402 in Rajshahi, 274 in Barisal, and 188 in Mymensingh.
On the other hand, 7,904 people recovered from Covid-19 in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 961,044.
Oxygen shortages
According to a DGHS press release, government hospitals in 11 districts and upazila health complexes in at least five districts do not have central oxygen facilities.
The authorities are currently setting up oxygen facilities in Narayanganj and Shariatpur district hospitals while those in Netrakona, Pabna, Joypurhat, Jhalakathi, Sunamganj and Moulvibazar will get the system installed soon after preparations.
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On the other hand, no initiatives have so far been taken to set up facilities in Lakhsmipur, Chandpur and Panchagarh district hospitals.
The upazila complexes that lack such facilities are located in Chittagong, Rangamati, Feni, Khagrachhari and Sylhet districts.
Vaccination
Till Wednesday morning, nearly 4.298 million people had received the second dose of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine while a little over 1.522 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine and are awaiting the second dose.
Additionally, 1,049,660 people have received the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine, while 3,319 people have received the second dose.
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Meanwhile, the total number of people administered with the first dose of the Pfizer vaccines stood at 50,104, and the number of people administered with the first dose of the Moderna vaccine at 269,537.
The health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a strain of coronavirus named Sars-CoV-2, on March 8, 2020.
The fast spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 4.1 million lives and infected over 191 million people across the world till Tuesday afternoon, according to Worldometer.
As many as 174.673 million people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 220 countries and territories across the planet.