Covid-19: Bangladesh records highest 42 deaths in a day, cases cross 65,000 mark

Bangladesh has witnessed the highest single day of Covid-19 deaths with 42 more people dying of the deadly disease in the last 24 hours.

With the latest figure, the number of total fatalities so far rose to 888.

Alongside the death record, the country also confirmed 2,743 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 65,769.

Of the samples tested during the same period, around 21% turned out to be positive.

Additional Director General (Administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Prof Nasima Sultana, revealed the latest figures from Dhaka on Sunday afternoon, in a daily Covid-19 online update bulletin.

Previously on May 31, Bangladesh registered the highest number of Covid-19 deaths (40) in a single day. Deaths from coronavirus infection crossed the 800 mark in the country on June 5.

On June 2, the country logged 2,911 Covid-19 cases -- highest in a 24-hour span, since the first cases reported back in March.

Highest number of deaths in 24hrs

The DGHS official said, of the deceased, 35 were men and seven women. 

“Of those, 27 were from Dhaka division including, eight from Chittagong, two each from Sylhet, Rajshahi and Khulna and one from Mymensingh,” Dr Nasima added.

She said one of the deceased was between 21 and 30, seven between 31 and 40 years of age, nine between 41 and 50, seven between 51 and 60, 14 in their 61 and 70, three between 71 and 80, and one over 80.

“Of the victims, 30 died while undergoing treatment at different hospitals and the rest 12 died at home,” she added.

20.88% samples test positive

As many as 12,482 samples were collected in the past 24 hours, while 13,136 (including the pending samples) were tested in 52 labs across the country, according to senior DGHS official Nasima.

In all, 397,987 tests have been conducted so far and of that 20.88 % were positive, she added.

The rate was 21.10% on Saturday, 20.07% on Friday, and 19.09% on Thursday.

The daily percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the country was on the rise for three consecutive days before it went down ever so slightly on Sunday.

It reached an all-time high on Tuesday, with nearly 23% of all samples testing positive for that day.

Till now, 65,769 people have tested Covid-19 positive, and 888 of them lost their lives.

Currently, the death rate in the country stands at 1.35% of all reported cases thus far.

Recovery rate 21.4% 

In the briefing, the DGHS acting DG also said that 578 more Covid-19 patients had recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours.

So far 13,903 people -- 21.14% of all infected -- have made full recoveries after being infected by the novel coronavirus.

“At present, there are a total of 55 labs conducting Covid-19 tests across the country. CSBF Health Centre in Dhaka and Gazipur’s Sheikh Fazilatunnessa Mujib Memorial KPJ Specialized Hospital are on this list.

“The government has now total 271,867 personal protective equipment (PPE) in reserve,” she added.

On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a new strain of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2. The virus broke out in China's Wuhan in December last year and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.

Till now the fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 402,000 lives and infected more than 7,004,000 people globally, according to worldometer.

As many as 3,426,000 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the world.