Bangladesh reported eight more Covid-linked deaths with 529 fresh cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning. The daily positivity rate slightly increased to 2.63 per cent from Saturday’s 2.11 per cent after testing 20,062 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). On Saturday, Bangladesh reported 13 more Covid-linked deaths with 368 fresh cases. The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 29,085 while the caseload to 19,47,266. Among the new deceased, six were men and two women. Four of the deaths were reported from Dhaka division while two each from Chattogram and Khulna divisions. Also read: Govt aims at boosting revenue collection amid recovery from Covid shocks Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 per cent. However, the recovery rate rose to 94.66 per cent with the recovery of 3,340 more patients during the 24-hour period. On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest daily positivity rate at 33.37 per cent reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths. On December 9 last year, Bangladesh logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks. The country reported first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020. Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 13 more deaths, positivity rate stands at 2.11% Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.

Bangladesh logged 34 more Covid-linked deaths with 4,746 fresh cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning. The daily positivity rate slightly increased to 13.77 per cent from Monday’s 13.53 per cent after testing 34,175 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). On Monday, Bangladesh reported 19 more Covid-linked deaths with 4,692 fresh cases. The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,872 while the caseload mounted to 1,919,102. Among the new deceased, 21 were men and 13 women. Twenty-one of the deaths were reported in Dhaka division while four in Barishal, two each in Chattogram, Khulna, Sylhet and Rangpur and one in Rajshahi division. Meanwhile, the mortality rate declined to 1.50 per cent.

  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.

Bangladesh on Tuesday saw a further spike in Covid-19 cases as the country’s health authorities detected 2,230 new patients across the country in 24 hours, taking the total to 451,990.