Covid-19: Body count crosses 3,400, cases top 260,000 in Bangladesh

Death toll from the coronavirus infection has crossed 3,400 in Bangladesh as 39 more people have died of the deadly virus in the past 24 hours.  

With the latest figure, the number of total fatalities surged to 3,438. 

Meanwhile, the country logged more than 260,000 Covid-19 cases with 2,907 people having tested positive over the same period. With this development, the number of total confirmed cases jumped to 260,507. 

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

She also said 2,067 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. 

So far, 150,437 patients — 57.75% of all infected — have fully recovered across the country. 

Fatality rate 1.32% 

Prof Nasima said, of the 39 deceased – 35 men and four women – 12 were from Dhaka division, eight from Rajshahi, seven from Chittagong, six from Khulna, three from Mymensingh, two from Barisal and one from Rangpur. 

Of the victims, 31 died at different hospitals and eight at home, she added. 

So far, 2,721 men (79.14%) and 717 women (20.86%) have died from the deadly virus across the country, she said. 

She added that the current mortality rate is 1.32% of all cases detected so far. 

As per government data, individuals who are 60 years old and above are the most vulnerable to Covid-19, as 47.18% of people in the age group had died until Monday. A further 28.53% deceased were aged 51-60, 13.79% were 41-50, 6.37% of the deceased were 31-40, 2.62% were 21 to 30, 0.96% were 11-20, and 0.55% were under the age of 10. 

22.62% test positive in 24hrs  

Prof Nasima said as many as 12,855 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients in the last 24 hours. 

12,849 samples were tested at 85 authorized labs across the country. 

With 2,907 of the tests coming back positive, the detection rate of new patients in the last 24 hours stood at 22.62%, she said.  

Till date, 1,273,168 tests have been conducted in the country, leading to an overall infection rate of 20.46% so far. 

Covid-19 dedicated hospitals 

In the Dhaka Metropolitan area, 2,130 patients are currently hospitalized and 200 intensive care units are occupied. 

In the Chittagong Metropolitan area, 243 patients are currently hospitalized and 19 intensive care units are occupied. 

The other dedicated hospitals across the country currently have 1,735 people hospitalized and 90 patients are in ICUs now. 

11,160 out of 15,268 general beds, and 234 out of 543 ICU beds, are vacant all across the country.   

“Bangladesh has a total of 12,557 oxygen cylinders across the country,” Nasima Sultana said. 

Currently, 18,981 people are in isolation while 52,482 are in home or institutional quarantine. 

Covid-19 in Bangladesh so far 

On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh reported the first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus strain Sars-CoV-2. The country recorded its first fatality on March 18. 

On June 30, the country recorded 64 deaths, which is the highest in a 24-hour span till now. 

On July 2, a total of 4,019 positive cases were recorded, which is the highest in a single day till now. 

The novel coronavirus broke 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. 

The fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed 734,131 lives and infected 20,034,132 people across the world till Monday afternoon, according to Worldometer. 

As many as 12,904,561 people have recovered from Covid-19 which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the planet.