Highest Covid death in 20 weeks

At least 38 Covid-19 patients died in the 24 hours till 8:30am yesterday -- the highest single-day death toll since September 19 last year.

On that day, 20 weeks ago, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported 43 deaths. At that time, the Delta variant was the most prevalent strain of Covid in the country.

Since January, the spread of the new Omicron variant has marked the third wave of Covid-19.

In the 24-hour period, the DGHS also reported 9,369 new cases. With the latest count, the total number of Covid-19 deaths reached 28,627 and the total confirmed cases numbered 18,70,901.

The positivity rate during the period was 21.07 against 44,471 samples tested countrywide.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday said the government will complete vaccinating all the targeted 70 percent of population by December.

As of Sunday, around 9.91 crore people (around 83 percent of target) have received the first dose and around 6.5 crore people (around 55 percent) received the second, according to the DGHS data.

The government has spent around Tk20,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccination, he said without mentioning the exact figure.