Covid-19 takes 14 lives, infects 543 others in 24hrs

Covid-19 claimed 14 more lives in Bangladesh and infected 543 others in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning.

With the fresh numbers, the Covid-19 fatalities reached 27,713 in Bangladesh while the caseload mounted to 15,63,501, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in a handout this afternoon.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 23,155 samples at 821 government authorised laboratories in the country in the 24 hours.

With this, the daily-case positivity rate stood at 2.35 percent down from Monday’s 2.58 percent and Sunday 2.36 percent. However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 percent, said the DGHS.

Some 701 people were declared free the infection at the same time taking the total number of the recovery to 15,25,168 and with this the recovery rate stood at 97.55 percent.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the daily-case positivity rate remains at 5 per cent or below for 14 days it is considered to be safe for mass unlocking.

The country last witnessed the upswing in fatalities reaching its peak on August 5 and 10 when 264 deaths were recorded.

Between May and June this year, there was a 273 percent rise in monthly caseloads and 162 percent in fatalities.

Among the new victims, six people died in Dhaka and four in Chattogram, two in Khulna one each in Barishal and Rangpur divisions while no cause of casualty was reported in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions during the period.

Of the victims, 10 were male and four were female and the deceased were aged between 10 and 90 years while the majority of them were between 61 and 90 years, according to the DGHS daily chart.

Among them, 12 breathed their last while undergoing treatment at different public hospitals and one died at a private hospital and one at a house in the 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics, has recorded 48, 74, 764 deaths so far caused by the virus and 23, 91, 13, 422 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 on March 18 in the same year.