UNB, Dhaka :
Bangladesh on Monday reported 97 more coronavirus-related deaths and 3,306 new cases as the country grapples with a second and deadlier wave of the virus.
The daily infection rate dropped to 12.82 percent from Monday’s 13.33 percent but the mortality rate rose to 1.49 percent.
So far 748,628 cases and 11,150 deaths have been confirmed, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
The number of recoveries now stands at 661,693 including 4,241 new cases. This means, 88.39 percent of the patients have recovered.
Bangladesh has so far tested 5,371,287 samples, including 25,786 in the last 24 hours.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
In the last 26 days, Bangladesh has seen 2,104 Coronavirus-related deaths and 133,851 new cases, making it the most fatal month since the outbreak began last year.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,514 or 58.42 percent.
Sixty-three of the 97 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 12 from Chattogram division.
Six each died in Khulna, Sylhet, four in Rajshahi, three in Barishal, two in Rangpur and one in Mymensingh divisions.
The surge in Covid infections prompted the government to go for a lockdown from
early April. Having failed to achieve the intended result, it imposed a strict lockdown from April 11 and extended it to April 28. On Monday, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said the government would extend the lockdown till May 5, as there is no improvement of the Covid-19 situation
However, shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm during the extended period, he said.
Bangladesh has closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargoes for the next 14 days from Monday as the coronavirus situation in the neighbouring country goes out of control.
Recorded number of daily cases put unprecedented pressure on the hospitals and drained the oxygen supply, leading to many preventable deaths.
Bangladesh launched a vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain. The administering of the first dose will remain suspended from today. DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May.
So far, 5,818,400 people have received the first dose and 2,326,866 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
