Health authorities have confirmed that another 43 Covid-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the deadly disease to 1,738 in Bangladesh.
Between Saturday and Sunday mornings, 3,809 more people also tested positive for Covid-19, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 137,787.
Sharing the latest data, Prof Nasima Sultana, an additional director general (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said that at present the total infection rate against the number of total tests was 18.87%.
Addressing the daily online briefing from Dhaka on Sunday afternoon, she also said that 1,409 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.
So far, a total of 55,727 patients — 40.44% of all infected — made full recovery around the country, since the first Covid-19 cases were recorded on March 8.
Of the 43 new deceased, 30 died in different hospitals, 12 at home, and one on the way to hospital.
Of the total, 21 died in Dhaka division, 10 in Chittagong, three each in Khulna and Sylhet, two each in Rajshahi and Barisal, and one each in Rangpur and Mymensingh, said Prof Nasima.
She added that the mortality rate was 1.26% against total cases detected so far.
Daily test positive rate over 21%
DGHS official Prof Nasima said as many as 17,034 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients around the country in the last 24 hours.
During the same period, 18,099 samples including previous collections were tested in 65, out of 68, labs across the country, and 3,809 of them or 21.05% tested positive, she said.
In total, 730,197 tests have been conducted so far — of which 18.87% tested positive, she added.
Prof Nasima said 717 more people were taken to isolation between Saturday and Sunday mornings across the country, while 461 were released. Currently, 14,523 people are in isolation around the country.
Till Sunday, 24,810 people were sent into isolation, and 10,227 released.
In the last 24 hours, another 3,090 people were put in quarantine and 2,405 were released. At present, 64,598 people are quarantined across the country.
Till Sunday, 358,271 people were quarantined, and 293,673 released.
Hospitals and PPEs
“The government now has 151,661 personal protective equipment (PPE) in reserve. And till now, we have distributed 2,376,564 PPEs to front line workers,” the DGHS official said.
“There are also enough general and ICU beds available in all hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 treatment,” she claimed.
The dedicated hospitals in Dhaka city have 5,985 general and 202 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds. Other dedicated hospitals across the country have 14,348 general and 421 ICU beds in total.
Across the country, 4,898 general and 196 ICU beds are occupied. In the last 24 hours, 605 patients were admitted and 590 were released from the hospitals, said Prof Nasima.
Looking back
On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh had 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 country recorded its first fatality on March 18.
On June 10, Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh had crossed the 1,000 mark, and on June 18, number of total cases had crossed the 100,000 mark.
On June 17, the country had recorded 4,008 cases, which is the highest in a 24-hour span till now.
The day before, 53 deaths were recorded, which is the highest in a single day till now.
The novel coronavirus had broken out in China's Wuhan city in late December last year and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
Until Sunday afternoon, the fast spreading virus infected more than 10 million people and claimed over 501,580 lives in 213 countries and territories across the globe, according to worldometer.
