Of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, 55 now have confirmed cases of Covid-19. In the last 24 hours, 10 people died from the deadly virus: seven men and three women, taking the officially Covid-19 death toll to 120, to date.
390 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of infected to 3,772.
Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general at Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), revealed the latest figures in a daily online bulletin on the national coronavirus situation, on Wednesday afternoon.
“3,096 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, of which 390 were positive,” she said, adding: “The daily testing rate has increased by 4.1% compared to Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, only five of the Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment across the country recovered in the last 24 hours from the infection, taking the recovery number to 92.
Answering queries regarding the low recovery rate of Bangladeshi coronavirus patients, she said: “It takes time to fully recover from the infection. A Covid-19 patient needs at least a month to get better.
“We can declare a person to be free of the virus when their results come negative in two consecutive tests.”
On Monday, Bangladesh crossed the grim number of a 100 Covid-19 deaths.
“Dhaka division has the most number of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh,” she said, adding: “73% of all the patients detected so far are from here.”
“Half of this 73% belong to Dhaka district and the other half are from Narayanganj, Gazipur, Kishoreganj, and Narsingdi,” she added.
Commenting on the situation in Narayanganj, one of the country’s coronavirus hotspots, she said: “499 individuals have tested positive in Narayanganj in the last 24 hours and 364 of them are residents of the city corporation. 35 Covid-19 patients from here have died and 16 have recovered, till now.”
“Of the 10 deaths reported on Wednesday, seven were residents of Dhaka. The other three were from Mymensingh, Narayanganj, and Tangail.
“Three of the deceased were in their 60s, two were between 51 to 60 years of age, three were between 41 to 50 years, and two were between the ages of 21 and 30 years,” she added.
Referring to the deaths of patients who were under 30, she said young people also need to stay at home because they are not immune to the virus.
Mentioning the recent returns of Bangladeshis via air travel, she said: “263 passengers have been screened at the airport in the last 24 hours and 3,052 samples have been collected nationwide for testing in the last 24 hours.
“In the past 24 hours, 150 people have been placed in isolation while 3,240 people have been put under home quarantine and 327 have been sent into institutional quarantine,” she added.
The fast spreading Covid-19 has so far killed 178,000 people in more than 200 countries and territories.
