One more death, 226 fresh Covid cases logged

One more person died from Covid, and 226 tested positive for the virus in Bangladesh in the 24 hours to Sunday morning.

While the country's total fatalities reached 29,313, the new number took its caseload to 2,008,870, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The daily case test positivity rate rose to 4.32 percent from Saturday's 4.29 percent as 5,226 samples were tested.

The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.46 percent. The recovery rate rose to 97.14 from Saturday's 97.12 percent.

In July, the country reported 142 Covid-linked deaths and 31,422 cases, the highest monthly death toll and caseload since March this year.

Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.

Although the current pandemic phase may be characterised by relatively low incidence and risk for hospitalisation and death, the Omicron variant remains highly transmissible.

The potential for surges highlights that "countries cannot afford to ease up" on vaccinating their populations against Covid, "especially their health care workers, the elderly and those with comorbidities," according to the World Health Organization.