Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has registered 291 fresh infections from coronavirus over the previous 24 hours till Saturday to take the total caseload to 540,266.
Besides, casualties from the virus, which is responsible for Covid-19, have reached 8,266 after 13 more people succumbed to it during the period.
Of the new deceased, seven are men and six are women. Among the total dead, 6,259 are men while 2,007 are women.
Currently, there are 45,233 active cases in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) disclosed the information through a press release in the afternoon.
As per the press release, 374 more people recuperated from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours to take total recoveries in the country to 486,767.
The recovery rate also stands at 90.10 per cent.
During the period, 12,871 samples were tested in 210 labs across the country. With this, a total of 3,835,216 samples have so far been tested in the country.
The positivity rate — an indicator of the prevalence of the disease — was recorded at 2.26 per cent in the last 24 hours while the overall positivity rate is 14.09 per cent
Bangladesh has one of the lowest case fatality rates or CFR, which measures deaths among Covid-19 patients, at 1.53 per cent.
Meanwhile, the government is considering to keep the provision of on-the-spot registration for senior citizens for Covid-19
vaccination, says Health Service Division (HSD) Secretary Md Abdul Mannan.
He said this while replying to a query from the media during a visit to the vaccination centre at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka on Saturday.
Earlier on Thursday, the government has decided to halt the service until further notice following a surge of on-the-spot registrations for Covid-19 vaccine at healthcare facilities in the country.
Besides, a total of 194,371 people were administered Covid-19 vaccines across the country on February 13.
Among the vaccine receivers, 127,043 were male and 67,328 females, according to figures by the Management Information System of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of people, who got the vaccine shots, stands at 736,680 as of Saturday. Of them, 513,621 are male and 223,059 female.
Health officials said that the number of vaccine seekers are increasing day by day.
“Number of inoculation seekers are on the rise. Our employees and volunteers are getting very busy to provide service for vaccination,” Professor Dr Faruk Ahmed, Director of Sheikh Russel Gastro Liver Institute and Hospital, said.
The Director said that it is a result of awareness building among the people in the country.
Former Advisor to the caretaker government, Barrister Mainul Hosein, and Chairperson of daily The New Nation Saju Hosein, Channel i Director Shykh Seraj got jabs from the hospital on the day.
Besides, columnist Syed Abul Maksud got inoculated at the BSMMU centre.
