Bangladesh reported 11,434 fresh cases with 12 deaths in 24 hours till Friday morning with infection rate marking a sharp rise.
The positivity rate increased to 28.49 per cent from Thursday’s 26.37 per cent after testing 40,423 samples, according to the Directorate general of health Services (DGHS).
Bangladesh last logged 11,164 cases and 264 deaths on August 10, last year with a positivity rate of 23.54 per cent in 24 hours.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,192 while the caseload mounted to 1,664,616 on Friday.
Among the new deceased, seven were men and five were women.
Six cases were reported in Dhaka division while two in Sylhet, and one each in Chattogram, Khulna, Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions.
Read:Covid surge in Bangladesh: All educational institutions to remain shut till Feb 6
Meanwhile, the mortality rate further declined to 1.69 per cent.
However, the recovery rate further declined to 93.45 per cent with the recovery of 752 more patients during the 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 64 with the detection of nine more cases till Thursday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 last year.
New Restrictions
All the schools, colleges and universities of the country will remain closed from January 21 to February 6 in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, said a government announcement on Friday.
Read:NTAC places 5 recommendations to contain Covid surge
The Cabinet Division issued a notification in this regard in the morning imposing restrictions on the overall activities and movement of people in the country amid a worrying spike in Covid-19 cases.
As the situation keeps worsening, the government has also prohibited the gathering of 100 people for any political, social or religious programmes. Those who will attend such programmes will need to have Covid-19 vaccine certificates and RT-PCR test conducted, says the notification.
It says all the government, non-government offices and factories have been asked to make sure that all the staff and officers carrying Covid-19 vaccine cards.
The notification asked all to wear masks and maintain health rules at public places like markets, shopping malls, mosques, bus stands, launch terminals, railway stations. The local administration and law enforcement agencies have been instructed to monitor and ensure compliance.