Struggling with Covid-19’s grim second wave, Bangladesh lost 203 more lives to the deadly virus, while another 12,198 people contracted it in24 hours till Tuesday morning.
The new numbers took the country’s death tally to 16,842 and the caseload to 10,47,155, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases were detected after testing 41,755 samples during the period, pushing up the case positivity rate to 29.21%.
According to the DGHS, 2,339 people lost the battle to Covid-19 and 125,596 more got infected as of July13.
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the 24-hour period.
The country saw a record number of 13,768 Covid cases on Monday and the highest-ever 230 deaths on Sunday.
Also read: Bangladesh eases lockdown restrictions ahead of Eid
So far, 889,167 people have recovered from the disease, taking the country’s recovery rate to 84.91%, which is on the decline compared to other indicators.
Of the latest deaths, 61 were reported in Dhaka, 53 in Khulna, and 30 in Chattogram divisions and 27 in Rajshahi. Besides, 15 people died in Rangpur, seven in Mymensingh and five each in Barishal and Sylhet divisions.
The country saw 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June, making those the most fatal months of this year. Also, July was the most fatal month in 2020, reporting 1,264 deaths followed by 1,197 deaths in June that year.
Lockdown eased
The government has decided to ease all lockdown restrictions in the country for eight days ahead of Eid ul Azha.
In a notification on Tuesday morning, the cabinet division said that the lockdown restrictions will be lifted from July 14 midnight to the morning of July 23.
However, strict restrictions will resume from July 23 and will continue till August 5, as per the order.
Also read: FM reassures on adequate vaccine supply from multiple sources
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Bangladesh Railway is going to restore its passenger train services for eight days from July 15-22 across the country, keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Public transport services and business institutions will also be allowed to function.
Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on July 21 amid the Delta variant of Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the country, shattering records every day.
A record rise in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide stringent lockdown suspending all outdoor activities unless there is an emergency.