Covid-19 Situation: We’re among 10 countries with surges

Ten countries of South Asia, Middle East and Latin America have seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases over the last couple of weeks, according to World Health Organization data.

Coincidentally, in the past few months, the trend of a rise in cases were almost similar in eight of those countries -- Bangladesh, India and Pakistan of South Asia; Brazil, Peru, Chile and Mexico of Latin America, and Qatar of Middle East.

The two other Middle Eastern Countries -- Saudi Arabia and Iran -- are experiencing a second wave of positive cases after a gap.

In Bangladesh, a total of 68,504 people has so far been officially recorded to be Covid-19 positive, while 2,735 patients were diagnosed over the last 24 hours, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The new patients were diagnosed after 12,944 samples were tested over the period.

Followed by Qatar, Bangladesh now ranks 20th among countries with huge numbers of Covid-19 cases.

Meanwhile, 42 people died from coronavirus over the last 24 hours, said Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the DGHS.

The death toll now stands at 930.

Among the dead, 33 were male and nine female, she said, adding that 25 were from Dhaka, eight from Chattogram, one from Sylhet, one from Rajshahi, two from Khulna, one from Rangpur, two from Barishal and two from Mymensingh division.

Of them, one was between 11-20 years old, three between 21-30, one between 31-40, seven between 41-50, 10 between 51-60, 12 between 61-70, four were between 71-80, two between 81-90 and two between 91-100 years old, Dr Nasima also said.

During this period, another 657 COVID-19 patients have recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 14,507, she said.

According to a projection by the team of experts, comprising officials from University of Dhaka, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and University of Toronto in Canada, the number may jump to 87,000 by the middle of this month and to 123,000 by the end of it.

Based on the current trend of the Covid-19 spread and epidemiological modelling, Shafiun Shimul, an associate professor of health economics at DU, who led the projection, said with the reopening of everything, the spread of the virus is likely to accelerate further.

Among the 10 countries, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are the worst affected by Covid-19. India detected its first Covid-19 case in late January whereas Pakistan in late February. Bangladesh on the other hand recorded its first case in March 08.

The three countries saw a steady rise in the number of patients during this period and recently saw a surge in positive cases.

India is detecting over 9,000 cases every day, whereas Pakistan recorded its highest number of patients on a single day on June 7 -- 4,960.

On the other hand, Brazil detected 6,91,962 cases till June 7. It is the second highest number of Covid-19 cases in a country. Recording first case in late February, the Latina American country is now detecting 20,000-25,000 cases every day.

Three other countries of the region -- Peru, Chile and Mexico -- detected their first cases between late February and early March. From the last week of May, the numbers of daily cases began rising.

However, Iran and Saudi Arabia are experiencing a second wave of cases since mid-May. Saudi Arabia saw a rise in cases at that time, but the number of daily cases dropped in late May. From the first week of June, it began shooting up again.

Iran saw rise in cases in April when the number of patients rose above 3,000 a day. The number gradually dropped below 1,000 but has started climbing above 3,000 again from late May.

The numbers of daily cases in other most-infected countries, including the USA, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, China, Turkey, Spain and Russia, are gradually dropping.