COVID-19 CASES: Those with no travel history outnumber returnees

The number of confirmed cases is higher among people with no travel history than those who have come back from abroad, according to the country's coronavirus tally,

As of yesterday, the country reported 56 positive cases of coronavirus. Of them, only 16 have come back from foreign countries.

The highest numbers of overseas Covid-19 patients came from Italy followed by the USA and Saudi Arabia. Six from Italy, three from the USA and two from Saudi Arabia.

The rest were one each from Germany, Bahrain, India, Kuwait and France, according to data compiled by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

Officials said though it is not conclusive but the highly contagious virus spread in the country through overseas travellers. People who came in close contact with them were infected most.

Dr ASM Alamgir, principle scientific officer of IEDCR, said, "Basically, people who came into close contact with the travellers were infected. For example, we got six coronavirus positive patients from a single family. That's why non-travellers are getting infected more."

The first case of coronavirus in Bangladesh was identified on March 8 and till yesterday a total of 56 patients were identified, while six died.

Analysing the identified cases, it was seen that people aged between 31-40 years are the worst victims of the infection, as 14 infected people were in this age bracket. The next most affected age group is 41-50 years.

Out of 56 corona positive patients, 32 patients do not have any comorbidity, which means the risk of death is very low.

But when it comes to fatality, all the Covid-19 patients are aged above 60, according to the data.

It has been well-publicised that Covid-19 discriminates by age and by underlying health conditions.

But it has become increasingly apparent that it also discriminates by sex, with men more likely to test positive and more likely to die from the disease.

The trend was first seen in China, where one analysis found a fatality rate of 2.8% in men compared to 1.7% in women.

Since then, the pattern has been mirrored in France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Spain.

In Italy, men have accounted for 71% of deaths and in Spain, data released on Thursday suggests twice as many men as women have died.

The picture is also same in Bangladesh, out of 56 confirmed patients, 34 were male and the rest are female. Four deaths of coronavirus were of male patients, while two were of female patients.

Of the total number confirmed patients, 26 patients have recovered and returned home.