Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh went past two grim Covid-19 milestones on Tuesday, crossing the 50,000 mark in infection and reaching the 2,900-figure in its daily tally for the first time.
With 2,911 new cases- the biggest in a single day since the outbreak of the deadly virus–the tally of positive cases in the country increased to 52,445.
Between Monday 8am and Tuesday 8am, the country also recorded 37 more deaths – the second highest daily death toll from the novel coronavirus – raising the total number of deaths to 709.
After collecting 14,950 samples, 12,704 were tested in 52 labs across the country.
“Among the dead patients, 33 were males and four were females,” DGHS Additional Director General Professor Dr Nasima Sultana disclosed in the daily Covid-19 virtual briefing on Tuesday.
“Ten of them were from the Dhaka division, 15 from Chattogram, four from Sylhet, three from Barishal, two, each from Rajshahi and Rangpur, and one from Mymensingh,” she added.
Of them, 28 patients died in hospitals, while the other nine succumbed to the virus in their homes.
Dr Nasima added that 11,120 patients had recovered from the virus so far, with 523 of them recovering in the last 24 hours.
According to the latest data by the DGHS, 21 percent of novel coronavirus-infected patients recovered and 1.35 percent died. The infection rate was 22.91 percent on Tuesday.
Bangladesh reported its first novel coronavirus case on March 8 and its first death on March 18.
On April 14, the number of Covid-19 patients in the country increased to 1,012. The number quickly multiplied to 10,143 on May 4. Just 11 days later, the number doubled to 20,000.
A week later, on May 22, the number reached 30,205 and after six days on May 28, the number of patients was 40,321. The next 10,000 patients took less than four days to be detected.
During the briefing, Professor Nasima Sultana emphasised the importance of maintaining social distance and hygiene rules to avoid the risk of catching Covid-19. She said the only way to survive in this battle against Covid-19 is by using a mask. Wearing masks, whether they are surgical or made of cloth, is mandatory.
Currently, 58,545 people are quarantined across the country – including 2,506 newly-quarantined individuals. A total of 231,840 people have completed their quarantine deadline.
Nasima Sultana said that the authorities had placed 388 new individuals suspected of having Covid-19 into isolation till Tuesday, bringing the total to 6,040 after 3,407 left.
