BSS, RAJSHAHI :
A number of 17 more people died at Covid unit of Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) during the last 24 hours till 6 am today, taking the death toll to 288 in the current month.
RMCH Director Brig Gen Shamim Yazdani told journalists that nine of those were the residents of Rajshahi, four from Chapainawabganj and two each from Naogaon and Natore districts.
Among the deaths, eight tested positive for Covid-19, while the rest nine died with its symptoms, he said.
Yazdani said the previous day’s death figure was 14, while 18 on Thursday which was the ever-highest fatality caused by Covid-19 in the hospital since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, 52 more patients, including 31 from Rajshahi and nine from Chapainawabganj districts, were admitted to the designated ward of the hospital till 6 am today, raising its number to 431.
“We have 357 beds in the Corona dedicated wards of the hospital,” Yazdani added.
He continued that around 60 percent of the new Covid-19 patients admitted to the Covid unit of RMCH are from villages.
He clarified that awareness among the villagers is less compared to the urban people. Despite symptoms they hesitate to go for tests. “Only they are coming to the hospital when they feel worse. Then we have nothing to do for them, they are dying,” he added.
“Currently we should give more attention on villages besides the urban area as the fatality rate among the villagers is more and the grave situation is aggravating day-by-day there,” Brig Yazdani said.
In addition to the administration and health workers, public representatives, political activists and volunteers should come forward and work together. Otherwise, the situation may be furthermore alarming, he opined.
On the other hand, the district administration imposed another weeklong complete lockdown in Rajshahi metropolis on Wednesday afternoon for the third consecutive time due to the decline of the Covid-19 cases in spite of the last two week’s lockdown.
The lockdown in the city scheduled to end on Thursday midnight has been extended for another week until June 30 suspending all connectivity to the city from different upazilas and nearby districts.
