Staff Reporter :
The government is going to issue guidelines on Monday to restrict the surge of the Covid-19 infections across the country, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Sunday.
“Covid cases are jumping and some tough decisions are waiting. The government will issue a notification to curb the spread,” the health minister said in a programme in the capital on Sunday.
Earlier the health authorities announced 15-point restrictions and directives, carrying passengers half of the capacity in all public transports and wearing face masks as a mandatory in outside.
Dedicated hospitals for treating the disease have increased their treatment facilities as the pressure of patients are on rise.
Meanwhile, the government said that it has not yet thought of imposing lockdown now.
According to the data from the Directorate General of the Health Services (DGHS), over five percent infection rate was identified for third day on Sunday.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that the Covid-19 infection rate in the country was rising every day because of people’s indifference to the health safety rules.
The data showed that Bangladesh recorded 1,491 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours till Sunday morning.
The country last recorded 1,562 cases on September 21, last year with a death toll of 26.
After testing 21,980 samples, the daily test positivity rate jumped to 6.78pc from Saturday’s 5.79pc, the DGHS data showed.
It said that the country’s daily infection rate has been over 5pc for three days in a row now.
The health authorities also reported three new deaths from the disease in the last 24-hour.
The recovery rate stood at 97.31pc with the recovery of 217 more patients during this tenure. Including the latest statistics, the country’s total fatalities has reached 28,102, total caseload to 1,593,700, and the total number of recoveries to 1,550,905.
The country began the inoculations of booster doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from December 26.
Bangladesh lifted nationwide lockdown on August 11 last year.
As per the official data a total of 5,45,09015 people got second dose of covid-19 vaccines so far.
Besides, about 5,41,85,235 persons were inoculated with the first shots of the jab, the data showed.
About 381967 booster shots also have been pushed.
Meanwhile, the new variant, Omicron, has triggered a global alarm. Bangladesh reported about 24 cases of the severe contagious variant so far.
Health minister said, “We have been raising awareness since the daily infections started increasing, but no one is paying any heed to our advice.”
Mentioning that the government currently has 60 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in hand, Zahid Maleque said people’s interest in getting inoculated has waned.
He said, “Vaccination has reduced the covid mortality rate, but the transmission of the virus cannot be kept in check if people are unwilling to wear masks.”
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said the government is not thinking of lockdowns at this moment.
The foreign minister said they would discourage travel through Bangladesh-India on health safety grounds.
The foreign minister made the remarks while talking to reporters after the formal inauguration of booster Covid-19 vaccine doses for the diplomats stationed in Dhaka at Sheikh Russel Gastroliver Institute and Hospital.
Dr Momen said that he was very delighted as they could arrange this special vaccination program for all the diplomats in Dhaka and their dependents.
