Covid tests go up, so do cases

As the number of Covid-19 tests increased in 24 hours till 8:30am yesterday compared to the previous 24-hour period, the number of coronavirus cases also went up in the country.

During the 24-hour period till 8:30am yesterday, a total of 2,582 new novel coronavirus cases were reported after testing 15,204 samples. The infection rate was 16.98 percent, according to a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Another 35 people died from Covid-19 across the country during the same period. With them, the total number of deaths from the virus rose to 4,351 with a death rate of 1.37 percent.

Some 1,950 people had tested positive for the virus in 24 hours till 8:30am on Tuesday. With 12,209 samples tested, the infection rate was 15.97 percent.

Following the confirmation of the latest cases, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 317,528 yesterday.

This has put Bangladesh in the 14th position among the coronavirus-hit countries in the world in terms of total number of cases.

Of all confirmed Covid-19 patients in Bangladesh, more than 2.1 lakh have recovered till yesterday. The recovery rate is about 66 percent.

The rest of 106,512 patients are now undergoing treatment -- mostly at home. These are called active cases.

Of all active cases, only 3,845 were undergoing treatment in general beds of hospitals and 306 in intensive care units.

There are 14,474 general beds and 550 ICU beds in hospitals designated for Covid-19 patients across the country.

In the 24-hour till 8:30am yesterday, all the 35 people died in hospitals. Twelve of them were females and 23 males.

One of them was aged between 31 and 40, three were aged between 41 and 50, seven between 51 and 60, and the highest 24 were aged over 60, according to the DGHS press release.

In the same 24-hour period, 589 people were placed in institutional isolation. With them, the total number of people under institutional isolation now stands at 19,958.