Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh saw a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections and virus related deaths, fueled by the spread of the Omicron variant.
The health authorities on Wednesday reported 9,500 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily count since August 12, taking the total caseload to 1,642,294.
The death toll rose to 28,176 as 12 more patients died from Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8 am on Wednesday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Among the victims, 10 were male while two were female and they were aged between 51 and 90 years. Eight of them birthed their last while undergoing treatment at public hospitals, three at private hospitals while another one at a house.Dhaka division saw eight deaths while Chattogram two and a single death was recorded each in Rajshahi and Sylhet division.
Besides, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions did not see any Covid-linked death at the same time.
Among the eight divisions, Dhaka recorded the highest number of cases and deaths with 6,952 infections and eight fatalities.
On the other hand, as many as 37,830 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 25.11 percent.
Besides, another 473 people recovered from the illness nationwide, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,554,268.
The latest figures put the recovery rate at 94.64 percent and the mortality rate at 1.72 percent
Since the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan province in China in 2019, the health authorities in Bangladesh confirmed the first case on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 in the same year.
Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics, has so far recorded 55, 75, 173 deaths so far caused by the virus and 33, 55, 81, 197 cases worldwide.
