39 more die, 3,099 test positive

Thirty-nine more people died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours until yesterday, the death toll rose to 2,391.

During this time, 3,099 positive cases were recorded, taking the tally to 1,86,894, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

In the past 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, a total of 12,423 samples were tested in 77 labs across the country.

Of them, 24.95 percent tested positive -- up from the previous day's positivity rate of 24.11 percent.

On July 5, the positivity rate was 19.57 percent.

During yesterday's briefing, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general of DGHS, informed that more 4,703 Covid-19 patients were recovered from illness.

The total number of recovered patients rose to 98,317, which is 52.61 percent of all confirmed cases.

The death rate stood at 1.28 percent.

Of yesterday's deceased, 30 were males and nine were females.

Yesterday, 34 of the deceased died in hospitals while five died in their homes.

Of them, 19 were from Dhaka division, five from Chattogram, seven from Khulna, three from Barishal, two from Sylhet, and another from Mymensingh division.

So far, Dhaka division witnessed the highest 1,195 (around 50 percent) deaths due to the Covid-19 followed by Chattogram with 623 deaths—slightly over 26 percent.

Age-wise: one of them was under 10, one was aged between 11 and 20, three between 31 and 40, six between 41 and 50, 13 between 51 and 60 and 15 was aged over 60 years.

Meanwhile, Prof Nasima Sultana explained the reason behind the decrease in the number of daily tests.

"As per the WHO guideline, there is no need for second time testing after recovery and the health ministry has also imposed fees for Covid-19 testing. We think these reasons have caused the decline in testing," Prof Nasima said.

She also said they observed a lack of interest in people to be tested.

"Our scheduled time for collecting samples is 11:00am to 3:00pm; but we are observing no gathering after 1:00pm," she added.

She urged the poor people who need Covid tests to visit the designated centres across the country, where testing is free.