Daily Covid death toll rises again

The daily death toll from coronavirus infections spiked again as authorities reported 48 deaths yesterday, up from 36 on Wednesday.

In 24 hours till 8:30am yesterday, 2,695 people tested positive for the virus.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque, however, said the infection rate of novel coronavirus was decreasing slowly.

Yesterday's figures took the death toll to 3,083 -- around 1.31 percent of all confirmed cases. The total number of cases in the country stood at 2,34,889 as of yesterday.

In the 24-hour period, 12,937 samples were tested at 82 labs across the country.

The positivity rate was 20.83 percent yesterday, Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services, said during yesterday's briefing.

With testing having begun on January 21, a total of 11,64,195 samples were tested as of yesterday.

The overall death rate now stands at 1.31 percent, and the overall positivity rate at 20.17 percent.

Bangladesh is currently the 16th worst affected country in the world in terms of confirmed cases -- one place above Turkey and one place below Italy, according to worldometers.info.

Meanwhile, 2,668 Covid-19 patients have recovered in the 24-hour period.

The total number of recoveries stands at 1,32,960 and the recovery rate at 56.61 percent.

Six hundred and thirty-five people were put under isolation in the 24 hours, Dr Nasima added during the briefing.

Among the deceased, 36 were males and 12 females.

One was aged between 31 and 40 years, four between 41 and 50, 14 between 51 and 60, 12 between 61 and 70, 11 between 71 and 80, five between 81 and 90 and another was above 90 years old, Dr Nasima also said.

'TRANSMISSION DECREASING'

Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday said the transmission rate was decreasing slowly, thanks to different measures taken by the government.

"Due to those initiatives, 60 percent beds in Covid-19 hospitals are now vacant," the minister said while addressing the Annual Contract Signing ceremony among different organisations under the ministry at the secretariat in Dhaka.

He also said the number of tests has decreased a bit due to the unwillingness of the people to be tested and the flood situation, among other reasons.

"The medical sector is now in the right position. It took some time at the beginning to understand the situation," the minister said.

There is no patient in half of the Covid-19 dedicated ICUs as the proper steps were taken, the minister added.