Coronavirus: Bangladesh records highest 42 deaths in a day

2,743 more test positive as total cases rise to 65,769; death toll jumps to 888

UNB:Bangladesh on Sunday saw the biggest daily jump in the number of coronavirus deaths as 42 patients died in the span of 24 hours, raising the death toll to 888.

In the meantime, further spike in COVID-19 cases was observed as the health authorities confirmed the detection of 2,743 new cases across the country during the same period, taking the total number to 65,769.

Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Nasima Sultana came up with the disclosure at its daily health bulletin.

Earlier, Bangladesh broke the previous record of highest death count in a day on May 31 as the country saw the death of 40 patients.

In the last 24 hours, 52 coronavirus testing laboratories across the country tested 13,136 samples, Dr Nasima added. “So far, 397,987 samples have been tested.”

The detection rate of new patients on Saturday has been recorded at 20.88 percent.

Across the country 578 more patients made recovery, she said adding that so far 13,903 people have recovered from the disease.

Against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 21.14 percent and the mortality rate is 1.34 percent in the country.

“Among the dead, 35 were male and seven were female. Their age-based analysis says, one was aged between 21 and 30 years, seven were aged between 31 and 40 years, nine between 41 and 50, seven between 51 and 60, 14 between 61 and 70, three between 71 and 80 and one was aged between 91 and 100 years,” Dr Nasima said.

Twenty-seven patients died in Dhaka division, eight died in Chattogram division, two in Sylhet division, two in Rajshahi division, one in Mymensingh division, and two more died in Khulna division.

“Thirty patients breathed their last at different hospitals across the country and 12 others died at home,” she added.

In the last 24 hrs 467 more people were taken to isolation while 230 were released. Currently, 7,399 people are in isolation.

During the same period, another 1,975 people were home and institutionally quarantined and 2,576 were released. At present 55,696 people are quarantined across the country.

Meanwhile, for the first time, an incumbent minister was infected in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Coronavirus-infected Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing was shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka in the afternoon.

Bangladesh confirmed its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

The government decided not to extend general holidays after May 30. The public transport services as well as the government and private offices resumed from May 31.

To stem the spread of coronavirus, the government has planned to designate areas according to coloured zones – red, yellow and green.

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain on Saturday revealed that areas with 30 infections per 100,000 of population will be marked as ‘Red Zones’.

“Outside the capital, areas with ten confirmed cases per 1,00,000 people will be categorised as Red Zone,” he said.

However, for areas that have three to 19 cases per 1,00,000 of population will be categorised as ‘Yellow Zones’, he said, adding that areas with even fewer cases will be ‘Green Zones’.

Global situation

The global death toll from Covid-19 reached 3,99,854 on Sunday afternoon while the confirmed cases were 6,900,011, according to the Centre for System Science and Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University.

According to JHU data, Brazil has come up to the second position after US with 672,846 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Friday. The South American country counted 35,930 deaths from the virus till the date.

Among the countries, the US has been the worst-hit with the highest recorded deaths of 109,802 patients and about 1,920,061 confirmed cases. In the US, New York State alone counted 30,280 deaths till the date.

The UK has the second-highest death toll at 40,548, followed by Italy with 33,846, France 29,145 and Spain 27,135, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus cases were first reported in China December last year.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.