The death toll from coronavirus infection has reached 3,000 in Bangladesh, with 35 more people succumbing to the deadly virus in the past 24 hours.
The country reached the grim milestone on Tuesday, just 23 days after the death toll crossed the 2,000 mark on July 5.
Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh crossed the 1,000 mark on June 10 in the nearly three months since the first fatality was recorded on March 18.
Meanwhile, the country has logged more than 229,000 Covid-19 cases with 2,960 people having tested positive in the past 24 hours.
With the development, the number of total confirmed cases jumped to 229,185.
Prof Nasima Sultana, Additional Director General (Administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), revealed the latest figures in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon through the daily online bulletin on the Covid-19 situation.
Prof Nasima Sultana said 1,731 people had recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours.
So far, a total of 127,414 patients — 55.59% of all those infected — have made full recovery across Bangladesh.
Fatality rate 1.31%
The DGHS official said that of the 35 deceased, 26 were men and nine were women.
Of the deaths, 12 were from Dhaka division, five from Chittagong, four each from Khulna and Sylhet, three each from Barisal and Rajshahi, and two each from Mymensingh and Rangpur divisions.
Among the victims, 26 died at different hospitals, eight at home and one was brought dead to a hospital, she said.
So far, 2,358 (78.60%) men and 642 (21.40%) women have died from Covid-19 in the country.
The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.31%.
As per government data, individuals who are 60 years old and above are the most vulnerable to Covid-19, and 45.80% of people from that age group died till Tuesday.
28.97% of the deceased were aged 51 to 60, 14.17% were in their 40s, 6.67% were in their 30s, 2.80% were between 21 and 30, 1% were between the ages of 11 and 20, and 0.60% were under 10.
DGHS data show that Dhaka division has had the highest fatality rate so far, followed by Chittagong division.
Division | Death rate |
Dhaka | 48.13% |
Chittagong | 24.37% |
Khulna | 7.07% |
Rajshahi | 5.90% |
Sylhet | 4.80% |
Barisal | 3.83% |
Rangpur | 3.77% |
Mymensingh | 2.13% |
Source: DGHS
The number of deaths per million population in the country is 18, according to Worldometer.
On June 30, the country recorded 64 deaths, which remains the highest in a 24-hour span till now.
23.28% test positivity rate in 24 hours
The DGHS official said that 13,070 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients between Monday morning and Tuesday morning.
As many as 12,714 samples were tested in the 81 authorized laboratories -- government and private -- across the country and 2,960 new patients were confirmed.
However, the latest figures depict an infection rate of 23.28%.
The previous highest infection rate was 25.23% as recorded on July 15.
To date, 1,137,131 tests have been conducted in the country, leading to an overall infection rate of 20.15% so far.
The number of total cases crossed the 100,000 mark on June 18, and a month later, on July 18, the cases surpassed the 200,000 mark.
On July 2, a total of 4,019 positive cases were recorded, which is the highest in a single day till now.
Covid-19 dedicated hospitals
In the Dhaka metropolitan area, 2,100 patients are undergoing treatment in general beds and 178 others in intensive care units (ICUs) at different Covid-19 dedicated hospitals.
In the Chittagong metropolitan area, 292 patients are currently hospitalized in general beds while 20 are in ICUs.
Other dedicated hospitals across the country currently have 1,646 people hospitalized in general beds. A total of 101 patients are currently admitted to ICUs there.
There are 15,182 general beds and 533 ICUs in total across the country.
"Bangladesh has 12,348 oxygen cylinders across the country," Nasima Sultana added.
On March 8, the health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus strain which was later named Sars-CoV-2.
The novel coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan city in late December last year and quickly spread throughout the world, turning into a pandemic in less than three months.
The fast-spreading coronavirus claimed 656,978 lives and infected 16,667,341 people worldwide till Tuesday afternoon, according to Worldometer.
As many as 10,259,426 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the planet.
