Bangladesh shatters its own records; reports 264 single-day Covid deaths

Dhaka
August 05, 2021, 06:01 PM
by UNB NEWS

UNB News
Dhaka
Publish- August 05, 2021, 06:01 PM
UNB NEWS
Update- August 05, 2021, 07:40 PM

Bangladesh shatters its own records; reports 264 single-day Covid deaths

Grappling with the worst coronavirus wave spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant, Bangladesh reported 264 more deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning, shattering all the previous records.

The country saw the highest-ever 258 Covid deaths on July 27 before that.

Besides, 12,744 people came out positive with the virus after the test of 46,995 samples during the 24-hour period, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The fresh numbers took the total fatality to 21,905 while the caseload to 1,322,654.

The case positivity rate during the period fell slightly to 27.12% from Wednesday’s 27.91%, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.

The country has been seeing over 14,000 cases and 230 deaths every day on average for the last seven days.

The recovery rate, however, rose to 87.47%, with the recovery of 15,786 people during the period.

However, the case fatality rose to 1.66% again from yesterday’s 1.65% during the same period, the DGHS added.

Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh announces new restriction rules

Dhaka division remained the worst hit region, logging 87 deaths followed by 56 in Chattogram, 35 in Khulna, 23 in Sylhet, 19 in Rajshahi, 18 in Rangpur, 12 in Rajshahi, 16 in Barishal and 10 in Mymensingh divisions.

Of them, 140 were men and 164 were women.

Among them, one was within 0-10 years, one between 11-20, five between 21-30, 25 between 31-40, 31 between 41-50, 59 between 51-60 and 142 were above 60 years old, the DGHS handout added.

98% patients of Delta variant

Ninety-eight percent of the Covid patients recently detected in Bangladesh are of the highly contagious Delta variant while just one percent are of South African Beta variant ones, says a BSMMU survey.

Vice-Chancellor of the BSMMU (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University) Prof M Sharfuddin Ahmed, also the supervisor of Genome sequencing research project, revealed the survey report on Thursday after scrutinizing 300 samples collected from June 29 to July 30.

According to the research, UK variant Alpha dominated the country in December 2020, later South African Beta variant dominated in March 2021 but now most people are being infected with the Delta variant.

Also read: Delta variant Covid patients account for 98% in Bangladesh: BSMMU

The people who have co-morbidities like cancer, respiratory problems and diabetes have a high mortality risk. And those above 60 are also at high mortality risk if infected for the second time, it says.

This is the result of the first month of the BSMMU research and its updated result will be revealed in the months to follow.

The research team also found the existence of a Mauritius variant or Nigerian variant in one sample.

The Delta variant, identified first in India, is now playing havoc in Bangladesh.