Covid-19: Bangladesh records 26 deaths, 1,504 new cases

Bangladesh recorded 26 more deaths of deadly coronavirus in the last 24 hours until Friday morning, a drop from 36 a day ago, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

With the updated figures, the total death toll mounted to 12,310, the DGHS came up with the disclosure in a handout this afternoon.

The health authority also counted 1,504 new case in the same time, taking the caseload to 7,86,698, the press release said.

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 went up to 8.22 percent which was 7.50 percent of Friday 7.83 percent on Wednesday while the fatality rate remained static at 1.56 percent for the last five consecutive days, the DGHS said.

Some 18, 294 samples were tested at 482 government authorised laboratories in the country and of them, 1,504 new cases were detected in the same time.

As many as 1,529 patients were declared free from the infection, taking the number of recoveries to 7, 29, 039 with recovery rate 92.67 percent. Among the deceased, 19 were male while seven were female.

The health authority counted three in Dhaka division, six in Chattogram, four in Rajshahi, 10 in Khulna and one each in Sylhet, Rangpur and Mymensing divisions.

Meanwhile, Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics, has recorded 34, 46, 235 deaths so far caused by the virus and 16, 66, 08, 284 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.