Covid-19: Daily test positivity rate dips below 4% again

The daily test positivity rate for Covid-19 has again sunk below 4% in Bangladesh in 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday.

The latest figures show an infection rate of 3.34% in the last 24 hours as of Sunday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) press release.

A total of 473 people tested positive for Covid-19 over the same period, taking the total number of cases in Bangladesh to 531,799.

The overall infection rate of the country stands at 14.96%. It saw a daily infection rate of 3.92% on Saturday, 4.17% on Friday and 3.96% on Thursday.

The country has also registered 20 new deaths due to Covid-19 in the 24 hours, raising the total death tally to 8,023.

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Of the 20 deceased — 16 men and four women — 12 were from Dhaka Division, five from Chittagong, two from Rajshahi and one from Khulna division.

All the victims passed away in different hospitals across the country, according to the press release.

So far, 6,080 men (75.78%) and 1,943 women (24.22%) have died from Covid-19 across the country. 

Since the beginning, 4,464 people have died in Dhaka division, 1,471 in Chittagong, 458 in Rajshahi, 546 in Khulna, 241 in Barisal, 301 in Sylhet, 355 in Rangpur, and 187 in Mymensingh.

The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.51%.

The health authorities said 514 people recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours.

So far, 476,413 patients – 89.59% – have made full recovery across the country.

As many as 14,169 samples were tested in the 200 authorized labs -- government and private -- across the country.

Currently, 10,740 people are in isolation and 35,534 are quarantined.

On March 8, health authorities in Bangladesh 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 novel coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan city in late December, 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.

Global situation

Confirmed Covid-19 infections around the world approached 99 million on early Sunday.

And the death toll from Covid-19 continued its relentless march upwards, with more than 2.1 million people known to have died worldwide.

The worldwide number of Covid-19 cases reached 98,747,150 and fatalities rose to 2,120,840, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US – the world’s worst-hit country – reported 24,994,465 cases and 417,439 deaths.

Meanwhile, India confirmed 10,654,533 cases and 153,339 deaths until early Sunday. And Brazil’s case tally reached 8,816,254 and fatalities stood at 216,445.