Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18. On Thursday, Bangladesh’s total cases stood at 102,292.

In the last 24 hours, 38 more patients succumbed to the disease, raising the death toll to 1,343.

Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Nasima Sultana came up with the disclosure at its daily health bulletin.

In the last 24 hours, coronavirus testing laboratories across the country tested 16,259 samples, she added. The detection rate of new patients on Thursday has been recorded at 23.39 percent. 

Across the country, 1,975 more patients made recovery in hospitals and homes, she said adding that so far 40,164 people have recovered from the disease.

Against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 39.26 percent and the mortality rate is 1.31 percent in the country.

Among the deceased, 31 were male and seven were female. Dr Nasima noted that another child died from the disease while 14 of the new deaths are aged between 61 and 70 years. 

“Their age-based analysis shows that one was below 10 years, two were aged between 21 and 30 years, five between 31 and 40, three between 41 and 50, six between 51 and 60, 14 between 61 and 70, five between 71 and 80 and two more were aged between 81 and 90 years,” she said.

Fourteen patients died in Dhaka division, 18 in Chattogram division, one in Rajshahi division, two in Khulna division, one in Barishal division, one in Mymensingh division and another died in Rangpur division.  

“Twenty-four people died in hospitals across the country and 14 others died at home,” she added.

 
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‘Coronavirus to last longer’

DGHS Director General Dr Abul Kalam Azad joined the bulletin after recovering from COVID-19. He argued that the government had no choice but to open everything as economic activities, if stopped for a long time, can be harmful to the people. 

“The government has to work to balance life and livelihood ... according to the experience of different countries and public health experts, the prevalence of coronavirus will not end in one, two or even three months. It will last for two to three years or more. Although the rate of infection may not be as high,” he said. 

Across the country, 674 more people were taken to isolation in the last 24 hours while 400 were released. Currently, 11,026 individuals are in isolation.

During the same period, another 2,821 people were home and institutionally quarantined and 2,605 were released. At present 62,706 people are quarantined across the country.