The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Monday confirmed that seven people had died of Covid-19 in the preceding 24-hours, taking the death toll to 152 in total.
A total of 497 people tested positive for the deadly virus over the same period, pushing up the total number of confirmed cases to 5,913.
Among the seven deceased, six were male and one was female, with five of them being from Dhaka, one from Sylhet and another from Rajshahi.
While most of the deceased were either middle aged or elderly, one of them was a child, younger than 10, the health agency said.
DGHS Additional Director General (Administration) Nasima Sultana disclosed the latest figures at the daily online health bulletin on the coronavirus situation from Dhaka on Monday.
“Of the 4,192 samples collected in the last 24 hours, 3812 were tested," DGHS Additional Director Nasima Sultana said, adding that Bangladesh had so far tested 50,401 samples.
Nine patients have recovered during the same period, taking the tally of recovery to 131.
On April 24, Bangladesh recorded the highest number of Sars-Cov2 infections in a single day as 503 people tested positive in the previous 24 hours.
New testing centers
Nasima said Comilla Medical College Hospital would start testing after the local Member of Parliament inaugurated the testing facility on Monday. Comilla General Hospital also set up the machine on the same day and would start the testing from today. Meanwhile, Chittagong Medical College and Dhaka University will start Covid-19 tests as soon as possible.
The new centres include Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and Kushtia Medical College Hospital, with M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital in Dinajpur beginning its work on Sunday.
The health official stated that currently there were 25 labs in the country for testing samples of Sars-Cov2, while three more labs would be set up within a week.
She said as many as 4192 samples were collected in the last 24 hours and of those 3812 were tested.
A total of 50401 samples have been tested so far, she said.
Actual number of recoveries unknown
Nasima said nine more individuals had recovered from the disease, taking the number of total recoveries to 131.
"These nine individuals who were treated in hospitals are included in the list. But as most of the infected are recovering at home, they are not added to the list, which will be updated later,” she said.
She said the health authorities were trying to reach the recovered in order to have an accurate collection of data.
She asserted there were no shortages of testing kits in Bangladesh.
A total of 341 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 102 dialysis units are ready for the Covid-19 patients across the country.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the same day said the government would set up ICUs in all districts of the country. She was talking to the representatives of districts under Rajshahi division. “We’ll set up an ICU in a good hospital of every district,” she said.
All but 4 districts infected
All districts but four districts - Khagrachari, Rangamati, Jhenaidah and Natore have Sars-Cov2 infections, Nasima said, correcting an earlier mistake based on an individual’s permanent address.
“The person was from Dhaka with a permanent address in Natore,” she said at the press briefing.
As of April 26, Nasima said, Dhaka city was being considered as the worst-affected with nearly 52.01% of all Sars-Cov2 infections. Dhaka division has remained on top with 85% of all national infections.
Narayanganj is another cluster with 625 infections till Sunday, Nasima Sultana said, followed by Gazipur with 308 cases, Kishoreganj with 183 cases, Narsingdi with 142 cases, Mymensingh with 92 cases, Dhaka district with 79 cases, Munshiganj with 72 cases, Gopalganj with 49 and Chittagong with 48 cases.
Rajarbagh, Jatrabari, Lalbagh, Mohammadpur, Bangshal, Mohakhali, Mitford, Mirpur-14, Tejgaon, Wari, Sahabag, Kakrail and Uttara are marked as clusters in the capital.
The fast spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2, has claimed 207,265 lives and infected 3,006,232 people across the world till 10:20 GMT on Monday, according to worldometer.
As many as 883,238 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the planet.
