UNB :
As many as 16 Covid patients have diedin the past 24 hours at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH), health officials said on Friday.
This is the highest single-day death toll recorded in the hospital to date.
Hospital Director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani said that of the deceased, 10 were Covid-19 positive patients while other six others showed symptoms of the virus.
Of the deceased, nine were from Chapainawabganj district, six from Rajshahi and one was from Naogaon district, according to the hospital authorities.
With the fresh deaths, the district’s fatality count has reached 93 people since May 24. Of them, 56 were confirmed Covid patients. In the past 24 hours, some 32 people have been admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 symptoms. Of them, 15 patients are from Chapainawabganj, 13 from Rajshahi district, three from Pabna and one from Natore district, said hospital sources.
It may be mentioned here that authorities in some districts, including Rajshahi, have already imposed strict restrictions for a week to contain the spread of coronavirus.
This was after the government recently empowered the district authorities to take a call on lockdown restrictions in their respective areas.
Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Abdul Jalil announced the restrictions on Wednesday afternoon.
No one will be allowed to step out of the house from 7 pm to 6 am in Rajshahi until June 9 unless there’s an emergency, according to the order.
All business establishments will remain shut and no vehicles are allowed to ply on the roads except those providing emergency services. However, restaurants and traders can provide their services online.
On May 31, Bangladesh Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said, “District administrations have been given the power to enforce lockdown in their respective areas if the Covid situation worsens there.”
Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in the districts bordering India, district administrations have imposed lockdowns in Khulna, Satkhira and parts of Naogaon districts too.
Bangladesh on Thursday recorded 30 new coronavirus-related deaths and some 1,687 fresh cases in 24 hours.
Health authorities detected the new cases after testing 16,982 samples during the period. The number of tests has also increased over the past one week.
With the new cases, the country’s total caseload has risen to 8,05,980, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new deaths have pushed up the fatality count to 12,724.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Meanwhile, the Chapainawabganj district has logged five new Covid-19 deaths and 109 fresh infections in the past 24 hours, officials said on Friday.
The new infections came to fore after as many as 262 samples were tested for Covid, the district administration said in a release.
According to the administration, of the 109 infections, Rajshahi RT-PCR laboratory test detected 80, the district’s rapid antigen test 25 and the gene expert test found four.
With the new numbers, the district’s Covid caseload now stands at 2,240, while some 1,129 have recovered from the virus to date. So far, 45 people have died from the virus in the district.
Meanwhile, the lockdown, which has been imposed in the country due to a surge in Covid-19 cases, continued for the eleventh straight day in the district on Friday.
All vehicles stayed off the roads, though the restrictions were waived for ambulances, goods-laden vehicles and cars carrying patients to hospitals. Vehicular movement restrictions prevailed on Rajshahi-Naogaon border also.
On May 24, authorities in Chapainawabganj imposed a week-long lockdown to break the chain of Covid transmission.
On May 31, the local administration extended the lockdown in Chapainawabganj by one more week due to the worsening Covid-19 situation.
