Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 4 deaths with 277 fresh cases

Bangladesh saw a rise in new infection of Covid-19, as the health authorities recorded 277 fresh cases and 4 more deaths caused by the virus in the last 24 hours till Monday morning.

A total of 197 fresh cases with six deaths from the virus were counted during the corresponding period till Sunday morning.

With the latest cases, the positivity rate of the virus increased to 1.44 percent from Sunday’s 1.03 percent and Saturday’s 1.07 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a press release this afternoon.

The total number of mortality stood at 28,005 while the caseload at 15,77,720 in the country so far, the DGHS said in the statement.

Besides, the recovery and fatality rate of the virus remained unchanged at 97.77 percent during the 24 hours period.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,237 samples at 848 government authorised laboratories in the country amid the growing concern over outbreak of the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus.

Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid related deaths with 178 cases on November 20.

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

During mid-January to the first week of March, 2021 the infection rate remained below five percent and from the last week of March 2021, the infection and death toll gradually increased that led to the start of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.

The health authorities reported two deaths in Dhaka while one each in Rajshahi and in Mymensingh divisions.

Besides, Chattogram, Khulna, Sylhet, Barishal and Rangpur division did not see any case of casualty caused by the virus during the 24 hours period.

Of the deceased, two were male while two were female and one of them breathed his last while undergoing treatment at a public hospital and three at private hospitals at the same time.

The country’s health experts fear a slow pace of vaccination, waning vaccine immunity, sheer violation of Covid-safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travel may set the stage for another wave in Bangladesh -- a trend many European countries are witnessing now.

The first case of coronavirus was reported on March 8 in 2020 and the first death caused by the virus on March 18 in the same year in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics, has recorded 52, 73,310 deaths so far caused by the virus and 26, 62, 15, 411 cases worldwide.