Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday said the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh is under control with the country registering an infection rate over 13%.
He said the government has taken massive initiatives including the nationwide vaccination program to combat the pandemic.
"We have been able to vaccinate over 17 million doses of vaccines, meaning a large segment of people received coronavirus jabs," he told a function of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka, reports BSS.
Also Read- Maleque: Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh is under control
The inaugural function was held on the occasion of setting up 126 more dialysis centres at four hospitals -- Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, and Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital.
Senior Secretary of Health Service Division Lokman Hossain, directors of different hospitals and physicians, among others, were present at the function with Prof Dr Khalilur Rahman, director of Suhrawardy Hospital, in the chair.
Bangladesh reported 19 more deaths with 4,692 fresh cases from coronavirus in 24 hours till Monday morning.
Monday’s tally took the total number of deaths from the virus to 28,838 and cases to 1,914,356 in the country.
The daily positivity rate declined slightly to 13.53% which was 14.85% on Saturday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country logged 28 deaths from Covid-19 and 4,838 fresh cases on Sunday. With the latest count, the recovery rate stands at 88.38% while the fatality rate is at 1.51%.
The health minister said only 12% of people in countries of the African continent received the coronavirus vaccine.
Bangladesh is expanding the Covid-19 vaccination campaign including booster doses to combat the spread of the deadly virus, he added.
Maleque also said the government is taking prompt measures to decentralize healthcare services across the country aiming to reach better treatment facilities to the doorsteps of the people.
"As part of the decentralization process, construction works of eight high-standard hospitals at eight divisions are underway," he observed.
The minister urged all people to follow health rules including wearing facemasks to protect themselves from Covid.