The confirmed coronavirus cases in Bangladesh rose to 32,078 on Saturday after the health authorities announced the detection of 1,873 new cases.
The national death tally went up to 452 with another 20 deaths in the last 24 hours. Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Nasima Sultana came up with the disclosure at the daily health bulletin.
In the last 24 hours, 47 coronavirus testing laboratories across the country tested 10,834 samples, she added. During the period, Dr Nasima said, 296 coronavirus-infected people recovered fully in the country which upped the total number of recoveries to 6,486.
Among the deceased, 16 were male and four were female. “Four died in Dhaka division, eight in Chattogram division, two each in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Mymensingh divisions, and one each in Sylhet and Khulna divisions,” Dr Nasima said.
Of the 22 victims, 15 died at hospitals and four at homes while another was declared brought dead at hospital.
Among the newly deceased patients, Dr Nasima said, 12 were aged above 50.
“Their age analysis says, two were aged between 21 and 30 years, three between 31 and 40, three between 41 and 50, eight between 51 and 60, three between 61 and 70, and another between 71 and 80 years,“ she said.
Across the country, 286 more people were taken to isolation in the last 24 hours while 2,322 were home and institutionally quarantined during the period.
The country has seen a spike in the number of new cases and deaths in recent weeks.
On Friday, the DGHS said 1,694 new cases and 24 deaths were recorded.
Since coronavirus was first reported in China in December last year, there have been more than 5.2 million cases globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11.
The virus outbreak dealt a heavy blow to the global economy, disrupting the supply chain and forcing countries to go into prolonged lockdowns.
Bangladesh government declared a general holiday since March 26 to slow down the transmission of the virus. But the move left millions without a job and a large section of people appear to be reluctant to maintain health guidelines.
The government has announced a series of stimulus packages to tackle the economic fallout of the shutdown. –UNB, Dhaka
