Coronavirus deaths in Bangladesh nears 13,500 as 67 new fatalities were logged Saturday, with 24 of them reported from the new virus hotspot Khulna.
The daily toll is the highest since May 2, when 69 deaths were recorded.
As many as 3,057 infections were reported between 8am Friday and 8am Saturday, said the health authorities.
The highest number of Covid-19 deaths in a day — 112 — was recorded on April 19 this year, while the highest number of cases — 7,626 — was reported on April 7.
Thirty-four of Saturday's 67 deceased were men and 33 were women. 24 of them died in Khulna division, 14 in Dhaka, 11 in Chittagong, eight each in Rajshahi and Rangpur, and one each in Sylhet and Mymensingh.
A total of 1,725 people recovered from the infectious disease over the 24-hour period, according to figures released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The latest developments took the number of total Covid-19 cases to 848,027, deaths to 13,466 and recoveries to 780,146 in the country.
Between Friday and Saturday mornings, as many as 16,964 samples were tested at 528 authorized labs across the country, yielding a positivity rate of 18.02%.
Meanwhile, the overall Covid-19 infection rate now stands at 13.45%, on the basis of the results of 6,305,503 nationwide tests conducted so far.
Of the total people infected since March last year, 92% have recovered and 1.59% have died, DGHS statistics show.
So far, 9,657 men and 3,809 women have died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
Khulna district to be locked down from Tuesday
The total Covid-19 death toll in Khulna division now stands at 799 with 24 more deaths recorded Saturday, prompting the Khulna district administration to announce a week-long strict lockdown starting from Tuesday.
The latest toll is the division’s highest single-day figure to date.
During the same period, 1,812 samples were tested and 625 turned out to be Covid-19 positive with a 34.49% infection rate, taking the total number of cases there to 44,269.
The division had recorded 18 virus deaths on Thursday and eight on Friday.
Meanwhile, another 10 people died at the Covid-19 unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in the 24 hours till Saturday morning.
The hospital's Covid-19 unit has logged 193 deaths in the last 19 days.
As many as 13,755 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and 121 have died of the disease in Rajshahi district alone, as of Saturday morning.
A strict lockdown — to be in effect from Sunday till Saturday — was announced in Bogra as well amid a surge in cases in the northern districts.
Inoculation resumes with Sinopharm jabs
The nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which had stalled due to a lack of vaccine supply in April, was resumed Saturday.
People who have already signed up for vaccination will receive the Sinopharm vaccine from now on.
It will be administered at all state-owned medical college hospitals, general hospitals, sadar hospitals and 250-bed hospitals in the country.
