Following a steep rise of Covid-19 cases in the last few days, Bangladesh on Thursday recorded its highest number of deaths and new patients in a 24-hour period.
The country reported 10 new deaths, of which six were from Dhaka, and 341 new infections. No new patient recovered in the last 24 hours, with the recovery number remaining static at 49.
This is the first time that the daily death toll touched double digit figures alongside the grim 300 landmark of fresh cases. The total death toll and number of cases now stand at 60 and 1,572 respectively.
The Additional Director General (administration) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Prof Nasima Sultana, revealed the data through an online press conference at noon on Thursday.
“Of those who died in the last 24 hours, seven were males and three were females, one was in the 70s, five were in their 60s, three in their 50s and the youngest was in the 20s.”
“At least 352 people are in isolation now. In the last 24 hours, 37 individuals have been put under self-isolation, and nine others have been released,” she said.
Sharp rise in cases since Sunday
According to the DGHS, coronavirus cases have jumped in the country for the fifth consecutive day as 139 positive cases were confirmed on Sunday, 182 on Monday, 209 on Tuesday, 219 on Wednesday and finally 341 on Thursday.
Of the altogether 1,572 coronavirus cases detected till now, 1,090 were confirmed in the last five days, which translates to over 66% or two-thirds of the total tally.
Regarding compliance with the government directive to increase tests of suspected patients to truly determine how many people have been infected so far, Nasima said: “Testing and sample collection have increased by 16% and 4% respectively in the last 24 hours.
“The 341 new cases were detected after testing a total of 2,019 of the 2,135 samples collected in the 17 coronavirus testing units of the country.”
Till Thursday night no fewer than 136,992 people were killed and around 2,107,450 were infected by the deadly virus around the world.
