Staff Reporter :
The health authorities warned that if the number of coronavirus patients keep rising, Bangladesh may face a shortage of medical oxygen supply.
However, there is no crisis in production and supply of oxygen now, Prof Namul Islam, spokesperson of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said on Sunday.
Speaking at a media briefing, the DGHS official said that the number of patients reported during the 26th week of 2021, has increased by 51% as compared to the data of the previous week.
“Fatalities have risen by 46% in the same period,” he added.
In response to the queries from the reporters, he said that the allegations of deaths due to the oxygen crisis are being investigated. “There is no crisis in oxygen production and supply now. However, it would be difficult to meet the demand if the number of coronavirus patients keep rising,” said Islam.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has registered 153 new deaths from COVID-19 in a day, a record high, taking the total toll from the disease to 15,065.
Khulna, a recent hotspot, tallied 51 fatalities in a 24-hour count, the most among the eight divisions in the country. Dhaka was a close second with 46 deaths, followed by Chattogram and Rangpur with 15 and Rajshahi with 12, reports bdnews24.com
The COVID-19 caseload surged to 944,917 after 8,661 people tested positive for the disease until 8 am Sunday, according to the latest government data.
Dhaka logged the highest daily cases among the eight divisions with 4,207. Khulna saw 1,304 new cases, Rajshahi 992, Chattogram 673, and Rangpur 556.
Nationwide, another 4,698 people recovered from the illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 833,897.
As many as 29,879 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 28.99 percent. The latest figures put the recovery rate at 88.25 percent and the mortality rate at 1.59 percent. Bangladesh is currently facing a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths, prompting the government to impose its harshest lockdown yet.
After record infections and deaths in April, June was the second cruellest month for Bangladesh since the coronavirus pandemic struck the country in March 2020.
Globally, over 183.56 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 3.97 million have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
UNB adds: Bangladesh once again shattered all the previous records of single-day deaths reporting 154 fatalities in 24 hours till Sunday morning, pushing up the death toll to 15,065. With this, the daily-death record was shattered thrice within eight days as 143 deaths were reported on July1 and 119 deaths on June 27.
During the period, 8,661 more Covid cases were detected after testing 29,879 samples, overwhelming the country’s healthcare system quickly.
This raises the country’s case positivity rate during the period to 28.99% from Saturday’s 27.39%, according to a handout provided by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With the fresh cases, Bangladesh’s caseload now mounted to 944,917 on Sunday.
