UNB, Dhaka :
Amid a worrying surge in Covid-19 infections, Bangladesh recorded 22 more deaths and 2,172 new cases in the last 24 hours until Sunday morning .
The infection rate rose to 10.29 percent which was 09.39 percent a day earlier.
The latest figures have pushed the Covid-19 fatalities to 8,690 and the total infections to 570,878, according to a handout by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, the mortality rate stood at 1.52 percent for the third consecutive day after remaining static at 1.53 percent for the past week. Covid-19 infection rate had come down to below 5 percent on January 19 last. It even fell below 3 percent but soared again on February 9.
So far, 522,405 patients (91.51 percent) have recovered, including 1,687 in the last 24 hours, according to DGHS.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 the same year.
Health authorities have so far tested 4,409,119 samples, including 21,108 in the past 24 hours. Amid spike in infections, the government has taken a tougher stance to fight Covid-19 transmission.
The Health Ministry sent letters to districts, directing the officials concerned to impose fines on people flouting Covid protocols.
Bangladesh started its countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7.
By Saturday, 4,760,747 people received the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The second dose has to be taken between 8 and 12 weeks of the first one.
The government is providing the vaccine for free. It signed an agreement with India’s Serum Institute for acquiring 30 million doses.
Serum will provide five million doses every month between January and June. For now, 40 years aged or above can register for getting the jab atwww.surokkha.gov.bd.
Health Minister Maleque said the age limit for getting the vaccine will be revised when more doses will be available in the country.
More than 2.7 million people have died due to Covid-19 pandemic across the globe while over 122.7 million people have infected with the virus till Sunday.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total caseload reached 122,744,816 while the death toll mounted to 2,709,178 as of Sunday morning.
The US has the world’s highest official death toll with 541,909 fatalities. Besides, the US has registered 29,782,305 cases amid the rollout of vaccine.
The next worst affected country is Brazil which has registered 292,752 deaths with a record of 11,950,459 cases in the country.
Brazil on Saturday reported 2,438 deaths from Covid-19 as healthcare systems continue to collapse across the country.
Meanwhile, the country also registered 79,069 new cases.
The South American country is experiencing a new wave of infections generated by the P.1 strain that emerged in the northern state of Amazonas in November last year and the movement of people during the summer vacation.
India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 11,555,284 on Saturday, with both the daily cases and new deaths hitting the highest this year.
A total of 40,953 new cases and 188 more deaths were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the federal health ministry.
The death toll mounted to 159,558 in the country.
The number of daily active cases had been on the rise over the past few days as another wave of COVID-19 looms large in India.
