UNB :
As Bangladesh continues to fight against the Coronavirus pandemic with rising infections in frontier districts, it recorded 30 more deaths in the last 24 hours until Thursday morning, raising the death toll to 12,724.
Besides, health authorities detected 1,687 new cases after testing 16,982 samples during the period.
With the new cases, the total caseload rose to 8,05,980, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily infection rate rose to 9.94 percent from Wednesday’s 9.81 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58 percent.
The handout said 7,46,035 patients have recovered so far, including 1970 in the last 24 hours.
Rajshahi division witnessed the highest number of deaths during the period with eight while six each died in Dhaka and Chattorgram divisions, four in Rangpur and three in Khulna divisions, two in Sylhet and one in Barishal divisions.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in the bordering districts, district administrations have imposed lockdowns in Rajshahi, Khulna,
Satkhira and parts of Naogaon districts to stem the transmission of the deadly virus.
District administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdowns in their areas if the Covid-19 situation deteriorates there.
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India’s Serum Institute.
The administration of the first dose of the vaccine has remained suspended since April 26.
Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.
However, recently two other vaccines, Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm, got approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) for emergency use in Bangladesh.
The administering of the first doses of the Sinopharm vaccine started on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has also received 1 lakh-plus Pfizer vaccine.
