Confronting a tumultuous time since reporting its first death from Coronavirus on March 8, 2020 followed by the wrath unleashed by delta variant in 2021, Bangladesh finally reported zero death from the deadly virus in 24 hours till Saturday morning.

The country, however, logged 178 more infections during the 24-hour period.

Bangladesh recorded its first Covid cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18 of the last year.

The daily case positivity rate has declined to 1.18 per cent today from Friday’s 1.40 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Also read: Bangladesh bracing for third Covid wave?

With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 27,946 while the caseload mounted to 1,573,889.

However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 per cent.

The fresh cases were detected after testing 15,107 samples, the DGHS added.

Besides, the recovery rate remained the same as 97.72 per cent with the recovery of 190 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Covid-19 Waves

On January 12 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City of Hubei Province in China.

On December 31, 2019, China reported to the WHO some cases of pneumonia with unknown causes.

Bangladesh was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic along with many other countries across the globe on March 8 last year when Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported the first three cases.

During mid-January to the first week of March, 2021 the infection rate remained below 5 and from the last week of March 2021, the infection and death toll gradually increased suggesting the start of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.

Delta Havoc

Bangladesh reported the Indian-origin delta variant of coronavirus among its citizens on May 8, 2021 and the situation turned worse gradually. The Delta variant played havoc in Bangladesh from mid-July to the later part of August as the country saw a surge of cases and deaths during the time.

According to a survey of BSMMU (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University) conducted on 300 samples collected from June 29 to July 30, 98 per cent of Covid pateints were infected with the Delta variant of the virus.

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

Third wave not ruled out

Some of the leading public health experts in Bangladesh have warned that the current trend of plummeting Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh could well be the obvious calm before a cataclysmic storm.

Their fears centers around children below 12 who remain out of the vaccine coverage and the elderly people.

These experts fear a slow pace of vaccination, waning vaccine immunity, sheer disregard for Covid-safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travel may set the stage for another Covid wave in Bangladesh -- a trend many European countries are witnessing now.

Also read: Covid vaccines to be administered in all schools to vaccinate students

Vaccination in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has so far fully vaccinated around 20 percent of its population.

Since the inauguration of the mass inoculation drive in Bangladesh on February 7 this year, some 34,282,776 people have been fully vaccinated with two shots and 53,590,639 people have received the first dose

Earlier in April, the government was forced to suspend the administration of the first dose of the Covid vaccine after the Indian government deferred the shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Bangladesh.

On December 13, 2020, Bangladesh signed a deal with the Serum Institute of India to purchase 3 crore doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the country was supposed to receive 50 lakh doses a month as per the deal.

Bangladesh is currently administering doses of Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Sinopharm, and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to people.

On November 1, the new campaign to vaccinate school students, aged 12-17, against Covid-19 kicked off at 12 centers in Dhaka.

So far 177 school students have been vaccinated fully in the country. The school students are being vaccinated with US-made Pfizer jabs as it is suitable for them.