Covid: Daily cases in Bangladesh reach new high of 7,626 as 63 more die

Bangladesh has yet again recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a day – 7,626 – since the pandemic broke out in the country in March last year.

At the same time, record 63 more Covid deaths were recorded across the country  – the third highest ever daily figure.

With the new deaths, the country's death toll stood at 9,447 until Wednesday morning, while total number of cases at 659,278.

The latest figures were published by the Directorate General of Health Services on Wednesday.

The latest data also marked a jump in the seven-day moving average of coronavirus fatalities – 57.29 – from Tuesday's 55.71.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh had recorded the highest number of daily cases – 7,213 – and the highest number of deaths in one day – 66.

Meanwhile, a total of 34,630 samples were tested in total 237 government and private testing facilities in the same period – the highest number of samples tested in a single day till now.

During the late winter season, the infection rate had started decreasing sharply with the country recording 2.3% coronavirus positive cases on February 8 this year.

Also Read - Covid: Records keep tumbling as Bangladesh reports 66 deaths, 7,213 cases

But the number of cases started going up significantly in recent times, which forced the government to impose a week-long countrywide lockdown from Monday.

The latest figures show an infection rate of 22.02%. To date, 4,882,565 Covid-19 tests have been conducted in the country, amounting to an overall infection rate of 13.50%.   

Wednesday was the fourth consecutive day that the daily tally of new cases and deaths crossed the 7,000 and 50-mark respectively.

Of the 63 deceased, including 39 men and 24 women, 41 were from Dhaka division, 10 from Chittagong, four from Rajshahi, three from Sylhet, two each from Khulna, Mymensingh divisions, and one from Barisal division.

All the victims died while undergoing treatment at different hospitals across the country.

So far, 7,082 men (74.97%) and 2,365 women (25.03%) have died from Covid-19 in the country.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 5,439 people have died in Dhaka division, 1,694 in Chittagong, 517 in Rajshahi, 597 in Khulna, 280 in Barisal, 332 in Sylhet, 381 in Rangpur, and 207 in Mymensingh.

The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.43%.

Health authorities said 3,256 people recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours.

So far, 561,639 patients – 85.19% – have made full recoveries across the country.

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 named Sars-CoV-2. The country recorded its first fatality on March 18.

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.

The fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 2,889,000 lives and infected at least 133,136,000 people across the world till Wednesday afternoon, according to worldometer.

As many as 107,374,000 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 219 countries and territories across the planet.