coronavirus in bangladesh
Covid-19: Dhaka, Chattogram among 29 districts with higher transmission
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has identified 29 districts, including Dhaka and Chattogram, with higher rates of Coronavirus transmission.
The areas have been dubbed ‘risky places’ considering the high number of Covid-19 cases.
Narayanganj, Gazipur, Nilphamari, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Sylhet and Khulna are also on the list of risky districts, according to DGHS.
Also read: Proposed partial lockdown in areas with high Covid-19 cases: Health Minister
Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director-general of the health directorate, disclosed the findings after announcing an 18-point directive on behalf of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a virtual press conference in the afternoon.
"Considering the level of transmission, the local administration can decide whether lockdown is necessary for any certain area or not,” he said. “But there was no decision on announcing general holiday.”
Worrying Covid upsurge in Bangladesh: 3,908 new cases, 35 deaths
A growing number of coronavirus cases and an alarming uptrend in the daily infection rate are posing big challenges to Bangladesh in its fight against the deadly virus.
A 2.75 percent rise in the infection rate was recorded on Sunday (17.65 percent) compared to 14.9 percent a day earlier.
The country’s health authorities reported 3,908 new cases and 35 Covid-related deaths during a 24-hour period until Sunday morning.
Now, the local fatality tally stands at 8,904, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The country reported its first coronavirus-related death on March 18 last year.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 3-month high 39 deaths; 3,674 fresh cases
Bangladesh, which announced its first cases on March 8 last year, has so far reported 595,714 infections.
However, the mortality rate was recorded at 1.4 percent on Sunday which was 1.5 percent on Saturday.
So far, 535,941 patients (89.97 percent) have recovered, including 2,019 in the last 24 hours, according to DGHS.
So far, 4,588,830 samples, including 22,136 in the past 24 hours, have been tested.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases top 126.6 million
Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December 2019. Until Sunday, countries around the world confirmed 126.6 million cases with 2.77 million fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Fight against Covid
Along with a countrywide vaccination drive, the government has taken a tougher stance to tackle the transmission of Covid-19.
The Health Ministry sent letters to districts, directing the officials concerned to impose fines on people flouting Covid protocols.
Meanwhile, the closure of schools and colleges were extended until May 23 as the situation showed no sign of improvement.
Also read: 36 countries yet to get Covid jabs: WHO
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said she wants quick steps to fight the fresh surge of Covid-19 cases. “We’ll have to take prompt steps as we did in the past,” she said at a virtual discussion.
She said health guidelines and safe physical distance will have to be maintained at every programme and the use of face masks must be ensured.
Schools, colleges to reopen on May 23
The government has decided to reopen schools and colleges on May 23 due to the recent spike in Coronavirus infections in the country.
The Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard on Thursday.
The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers and during the closure online classes will continue, the notice said.
Classes in all primary, secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions were scheduled to resume on March 30.
Also read: Schools, colleges likely to remain closed until Eid: Dipu
Earlier in the morning Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said the schools and colleges are likely to remain shut until Eid-ul-Fitr vacation if the recent spike in Coronavirus infections continues.
“The closure of primary, secondary and higher secondary level institutions is likely to be extended until Eid-ul-Fitr like the universities if the coronavirus cases continue to rise. A decision in this regard will be taken later after a meeting with National Technical Advisory Committee formed to fight COVID-19,” she said.
The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. The closure was extended several times, most recently until late March this year.
On February 22 the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24.
Also read: Covid-19: Educational institutions reopening may be delayed
Residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17.
Covid-19 claimed 35 more lives and infected 3,587 others in the past 24 hours till Thursday morning amid an alarming spike in cases over the past 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).
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 3-month high 34 deaths; 3,587 fresh cases
With the fresh 3,537 cases, Bangladesh has seen the worst daily increase for the second 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 cases.
New variant may be behind Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts
Amid a sudden upsurge in coronavirus cases, health experts fear that a highly transmissible variant of the deadly virus might have appeared in Bangladesh through mutations.
They think a comprehensive study and genome squeezing is necessary to examine whether the mutations have led to the new variant contributing to the upsurge in Covid cases in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, a team of Bangladeshi researchers in collaboration with Monash University in Malaysia found that coronavirus mutated 4,604 times in Bangladesh from April to December last year.
Examining 371 genome sequences of the virus, they found 34 unique mutations in Bangladesh.
The researchers laid emphasis on conducting more research on the unique mutations as they think any of them can be deadlier and the cause of the recent spike in the virus cases.
Also read: Virus variants, vaccine inequity responsible for rising Covid caseload: WHO
Causes behind the fresh wave of COVID-19 in Bangladesh
Talking to UNB, noted virologist Nazrul Islam, a member of the national technical advisory committee formed to tackle Covid-19, said it seems that a fresh wave of the coronavirus has begun in the country.
9 UK-returnees escape from quarantine in Sylhet, return after 12 hours
Nine UK-returnees of the same family disappeared from a Sylhet hotel that has been converted to an institutional quarantine centre on Sunday, before returning around 12 hours later.
Covid-19: Bangladesh’s daily infection rate stands at 10.04%
Bangladesh’s daily infection rate fell slightly to 10.04 percent on Friday morning from 10.45 percent a day earlier.
Ekushey Book Fair begins Thursday
The Amar Ekushey Book Fair-2021 is scheduled to begin on Thursday at the Bangla Academy premises and the adjacent venue at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.
New Covid-19 strain found in 10 EU returnees: Maleque
Ten European Union returnees have so far been detected with the new strain of Covid-19 that was first reported in the UK, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Wednesday.