Covid-19 claimed 25 more lives and infected 3,567 others in the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning amid an alarming spike in the case over the last few weeks in Bangladesh.
The coronavirus fatalities rose to 8,763 with the latest figure while the new cases pushed the total infections to 580,808, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
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With the fresh 3,537 cases, Bangladesh has seen the worst daily increase for the 2nd consecutive day since July 15, 2020.
The free movement of people ignoring the health protocols is believed to be the reason behind the recent upsurge in the cases.
The infection rate slightly dropped to 12.97 percent from 13.69 percent a day before.
The mortality rate now stands at 1.51 percent which remained static at 1.52 percent for the past four days, the said.
On January 19 last, Bangladesh reported its virus infection rate just 5 percent and at one stage it fell below 3 percent. The virus cases started soaring again on February 9.
The DGHS media release says 527,909 patients - 91.89 percent - have so far recovered from the virus infection, including 1,915 in the last 24 hours.
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The first Covid-19 cases were reported in the country on March 8, 2020 while the first death on March 18 the same year.
Coronavirus tests are conducted at 118 government and private hospitals in Bangladesh.
Until Wednesday, some 4,487,686 samples were tested across the country, including 27,502 in the past 24 hours.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive is underway across the country aiming to protect people from the virus infections.
So far, 4,990,232 people have been vaccinated in the country since the drive began with the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab on February 7.
In the wake of sharp rise in Coronavirus cases, Health Minister Zahid Maleque announced that 3000 more beds will be added to hospitals across the country to tackle rising number of patients.
The minister revealed this while responding to questions from reporters following a meeting on MBBS admission test at his ministry's conference room.
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“The number of Covid patients need to be reduced fast. If the current rate of virus infection continues, it won’t be possible to tackle the situation with the existing arrangements,” he said.
With the Covid-19 situation worsening around the world, the global caseload crossed 124 million on Wednesday.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the global Covid-19 tally and fatalities now stand at 124,143,841 and 2,733,380, respectively.