The country’s tally of Covid-19 patients on Saturday passed the grim 2,000 mark as 306 more tested positive for coronavirus infection in the preceding 24 hours.
Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora provided the updates in a regular online health bulletin on Saturday afternoon.
It has thus taken the country just four days to double the 1,000 case mark crossed on April 14.
The tally of Covid-19 confirmed cases now stands at 2,147, which was 1,838 on Friday.
Of the newly infected, 62% were men.
Over the same period of time, nine people died from Covid-19, raising the death toll to 84. Notably, the single-day death count dropped to single digits again after double digit deaths on two consecutive days—15 and 10 deaths on Friday and the day before, respectively.
Besides, eight more patients recovered from the infection during the same time frame, taking the total number of recovered patients to 66.
The new cases were confirmed after tests on 2,190 out of 2,244 suspected samples at 19 labs across the country, the IEDCR director said.
Stating that 564 people were undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country, Dr Meerjady said: “11 of them are in ICUs and the rest are in stable conditions.”
Most cases from 21-30 age group
Analysing the estimate of the 24 hours until 8am on Saturday, the IEDCR director said those aged between 21 and 30 were most infected by the virus.
“27% of the cases are from the 21-30 age group, followed by 22% from the 31-40 age group,” she added.
The third most vulnerable group comprises people in their 40s as they make up 19% of the total count.
In addition, four of the deceased are sexagenarians. Of the remaining deceased, one was in the 50s while two others were aged between 41 and 50, and one between 31 and 40. The age of one of the victims could not be confirmed.
Dhaka still top “death zone”
The capital city continues to register the most number of deaths as it saw six more fatalities in the 24 hours gone by.
Two died in Narayanganj and one in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, said the IEDCR director.
Furthermore, Dhaka city alone hosts a huge share of the total infected patients; as of Saturday, the capital city had accounted for 32% of the total number of infected people.
Other than Dhaka and Narayanganj—the two major clusters of coronavirus transmissions—the virus is spreading fast in Gazipur, Narsingdi and Kishoreganj, Meerjady Flora said.
16 doctors in Bangladesh test positive in a day
With the curve mounting, 16 more doctors tested positive for Covid-19 across the country in 24 hours until Friday evening, according to the Bangladesh Doctors’ Foundation (BDF).
The latest figure pushed up the tally of infected doctors to 100 till 9pm on Friday.
Bangladesh reported the first death of a doctor due to coronavirus infection on Wednesday. Previously, a doctor died in Dhaka on Sunday after showing Covid-19 symptoms, which include fever, cough, and breathing problems.
Deaths from Covid-19 symptoms
At least four people died with symptoms similar to those of the Covid-19 in four districts on Saturday.
Healthcare authorities collected samples from the deceased and sent it to the nearest Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) labs to test for coronavirus infection.
Moreover, local administrations placed two more districts—Barguna and Panchagarh—under lockdown to limit the spread of the highly contagious virus.
Bangladesh reported its first three Covid-19 cases on March 8 and the maiden death from the virus 10 days later on March 18. The country’s highest single-day death toll was 15 on Friday.
The fast spreading coronavirus, which was first reported in China's Wuhan, has claimed more than 155,000 lives and infected more than 2,267,000 people globally, according to worldometer.
As many as 581,915 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the planet.
