As the administration of the first dose of the vaccine remains suspended in Bangladesh since April 26, the country continues to battle Covid-19, logging 1,887 new cases after testing 18,151 samples until Friday morning.

The new number took the country's caseload to 807,867. Also, the daily infection rate rose to 10.40% from Thursday's 9.94% while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Meanwhile, the country confirmed 34 more deaths during the same period, raising the total number of fatalities to 12,758.

Dhaka division saw the highest fatalities during the period with the death of nine people while Chattogram witnessed six deaths, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Rangpur five each, Sylhet three and Barishal one. 

READ: Covid-19: Govt to vaccinate 25 lakh people each month

However, 747,758 patients have recovered so far since the country reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.

Correlation between death rate, cases observed

To get an accurate measure of death rate, the number of infected people should be used as the denominator and the deceased as the numerator – both of which occurred and ended within a specified time, Dr AM Zakir Hussain, former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, told UNB.

"But for a disease like Covid-19, which still rages on, the rate should be considered in reference to a specific and relevant time. A recent assessment showed that the highest number of deaths occurred 14 days after the highest number of Covid-19 cases – a situation that still prevails in Bangladesh and India. So, the current method for estimating death rate is not accurate," he said.

What’s test positivity?

The Covid-19 positivity rate indicates, among other things, the number of people showing clinical features of the disease or the percentage of individuals suffering from the disease. Such estimation has two errors, Dr Zakir said.

READ: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 30 more deaths, 1,687 new infections

"One, an RT-PCR test, based on the present method of sample collection, misses about one-third of the actual cases. Two, when more than 20 cycles of diagnostic procedures are repeated even a single virus in a sample would show a positive result, which, however, will not indicate that the person who gave the sample will transmit the infection to others or that they will come down with the disease. An RT-PCR test shows positive results even when the virus is dead," he added.

Lockdown in districts

Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in frontier districts, district administrations have imposed lockdowns in Rajshahi, Khulna, Satkhira and parts of Naogaon districts to curb the transmission of the virus.

The district administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdowns in their areas if the Covid-19 situation worsens. 

Vaccination drive 

Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India's Serum Institute.

So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got emergency use authorisation in the country.

Meanwhile, seven million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine reached Bangladesh, and the governments of India and China gave 3.2 million doses and 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine as gifts.

However, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.

2.5 million to be vaccinated each month

With a plan to bring 80% of people of the country under the mass immunisation program in phases, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the government will vaccinate 2.5 million people each month.

He came up with the announcement while proposing the national budget for FY2021-22 in the parliament.

"Plans have been formulated to vaccinate 80% of people in phases. In the first phase, people with risks will be vaccinated and 2.5 million vaccines will be given each month," the minister said.

"The government procured 30 million doses of Covishield vaccine of Oxford-AstraZeneca from the Serum Institute of India. Besides, 68 million doses will be available from the Covax facility under the World Health Organization for 20% of our population, that is, for 34 million people. 

"Out of these, 106,000 doses have already been received," he said.

The finance minister said the World Bank provided $500 million for procuring vaccines and $14.87 million for logistic support. “Loan agreement for $940 million with the ADB to procure Covid vaccine is at the final stage. Alongside, there is a good possibility to receive support for vaccine procurement from the European Investment Bank and AIIB."