With the coronavirus pandemic ripping through the country, the death toll from Covid-19 has reached 2,352 in Bangladesh as 47 more people have died of the deadly virus in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the country has logged more than 183,000 Covid-19 cases with 2,666 people having tested positive over the same period.
With this development, the number of total confirmed cases jumped to 183,795.
The daily online bulletin of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest figures on Sunday afternoon.
DGHS Additional Director General (Administration) Prof Nasima Sultana, presenting the bulletin, said 5,580 people recovered from the disease over the preceding 24 hours.
So far, a total of 93,614 patients — 50.93% of all infected — have made full recovery across the country, since the first Covid-19 cases were recorded on March 8.
Fatality rate 1.28%
Of the 47 deceased, including 36 men, the highest figure of 23 was from Dhaka division, six each from Chittagong and Khulna, four each from Rajshahi and Sylhet, and two each from Barisal and Rangpur divisions.
Forty-three died in different hospitals and four at home, according to the DGHS.
So far, 1,860 (79.08%) men and 492 (20.92%) women have died from Covid-19 across the country, it added.
The mortality rate against the total number of cases detected so far stands at 1.28%.
Among the fatalities, Dhaka division reports 50% deaths followed by Chittagong division (26.28%) until Sunday.
Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh crossed the 1,000 mark on June 10. The toll reached 2,000 on July 5.
On June 30, the country recorded 64 deaths, which is the highest in a 24-hour span till now.
Highest infection rate
Overtaking the continued trend of one in every five suspected patients testing positive for Covid-19, almost one-fourth of the samples tested in the past 24 hours turned out positive.
The DGHS official said that 11,210 samples were collected from suspected Covid-19 patients between Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Of those, 11,059 samples were tested in 77 authorized labs across the country and 2,666 new patients were confirmed.
However, the latest figures depict an infection rate of 24.11%, which is the highest till date.
The previous highest infection rate was 24% as recorded on July 11, followed by 23.39% on June 18.
The average infection rate since late May was almost 20%, meaning one out of five people came out Covid-19 positive over the period.
The infection rate for the first time crossed the 20% mark on May 25 and since then the daily rate of people testing coronavirus positive has been fluctuating around it.
Till date, no fewer than 940,524 tests have been conducted in the country, leading to a whopping 19.54% infection rate as of yet.
On June 18, Bangladesh witnessed the grim 100,000 mark in Covid-19 cases. On July 2, a total of 4,019 positive cases were recorded, which was the highest in a single day till now.
Situation at dedicated Covid-19 hospitals
In the Dhaka metropolitan area, 2,103 patients are undergoing treatment at general beds in the dedicated Covid-19 hospitals, while 103 others are being treated in intensive care units (ICUs).
In Chittagong city, 313 people are taking treatment in general beds and 20 in ICUs.
Across the country, there are 14,664 general and 374 ICU beds in the dedicated hospitals. Of those, 4,254 and 210 are occupied respectively, Prof Nasima said.
"Besides, a total of 11,275 oxygen cylinders are currently in use across Bangladesh," she said.
Isolation, quarantine, screening at ports
Nasima also said that 737 more people were taken into isolation in the last 24 hours, while 909 were released across the country. As many as 17,319 patients remained in isolation now.
During the same period, another 2,531 people were put in quarantine and 2,900 were released. At present, 63,083 people are quarantined across the country.
In the last 24 hours, 1,753 incoming passengers were screened at different points including 1,507 at airports, 52 at land ports, and 194 at seaports. In total, 752,447 passengers were screened across Bangladesh at different entry points.
Healthcare providers received 190,388 calls in the last 24 hours and served a total of 16,052,954 calls as of now.
Personal protective equipment
The government now has 1,147,860 personal protective equipment (PPE) in reserve.
Besides, there are various types of gloves (1,381,357), masks (6,688,994), and face shields along with goggles (1,312,020) in stock.
Looking back
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 had broken 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 568,299 lives and infected 12,869,791 people across the world till 5pm on Sunday, according to Worldometer.
As many as 7,501,491 people have recovered from Covid-19 which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the planet.
