Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 36 deaths, 1,457 new cases

Bangladesh recorded 36 more deaths and 1,457 new cases of deadly novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours until Thursday morning, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With the updated figures, the death toll rose to 12,284 while the caseload stood at 7, 85,194 in the country, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) came up with the disclosure in a press release this afternoon.

The country has been seeing bellow 50 daily deaths from May 9 and the number stayed mostly below 60 from the beginning of May.

The country experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases in April, recording its highest single-day cases of 7,626 on April 7. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.

The infection rate slightly declined to 7.50 percent from Wednesday’s 7.83 percent and Tuesday’s 7.55 percent while the fatality rate remained static at 1.56 percent for the last five consecutive days, the DGHS said.

Some 19, 437 samples were tested at 472 government authorised laboratories in the country and of them, 1,457 new cases were detected in the same time.

As many as 1,378 patients were declared free from the infection, taking the number of recoveries to 7, 27, 510 with recovery rate 92.65 percent.

Among the deceased, 26 were male while 10 were female and 25 patients breathed their last at different public hospitals and 10 at private hospitals and one at a house at the same period.

The health authority counted 12 deaths in Dhaka division, the most vulnerable area for coronavirus in Bangladesh, 14 in Chattogram, three each in Rajshahi and Sylhet, two in Khulna and one each in Barishal and Mymenshing divisions.

Meanwhile, Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics, has recorded 34, 33, 373 deaths so far caused by the virus and 16, 56, 17, 499 cases worldwide.

Since the outbreak of the virus in China in 2019, the health authority in Bangladesh confirmed the first case on March 8, 2020 and recorded the first death caused by the virus on March 18 in the same year.

Lockdown extended till May 23

Amid the situation, the government on Sunday extended the ongoing lockdown for another week until May 23 with two new directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.

It said all offices and agencies relating to revenue collection will be considered as emergency service providers but restaurants and eateries will remain open with only takeaway or online services.

As coronavirus cases kept growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.

But with no improvement in sight, the government went for stricter lockdown and extended it in phases.

Schools, colleges to remain closed until May 29

The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions until May 29.

The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers after consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, according to a handout of the Education Ministry. During the closure online classes will continue, it added.

The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year, just over a week after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases.

On February 22, the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24 while the residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17.