As Bangladesh battles with the Covid-19 pandemic, its health authorities recorded 28 more deaths and 1,354 cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning. The infection rate rose to 8.90 percent from Saturday’s 8.41 percent while the mortality rate stood at 1.57 percent, said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Read:17 India returnees test positive for Covid-19 The new cases of infections were recorded after testing 15,205 samples. With the fresh deaths during the period, the coronavirus fatalities rose to 12,376 in the country. The total caseload now stands at 7,89,080 with the new ones, the handout added. Lockdown extended The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week until May 30 allowing public buses to run at half of their capacities considering the current coronavirus situation in the country. The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday. All concerned, including passengers, will have to maintain health protocols like wearing masks, says the circular.  Read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 30 Besides, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to keep open with half of half of their capacities.  The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard. As coronavirus cases kept on growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government had imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.  Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was announced from April 14 to 21. Then the lockdown was extended several times considering the situation. Train services set to resume Twenty-eight pairs of trains will run from Monday across the country following the suspension of the services for over a month as part of the government restrictions on people’s movement to stem the coronavirus transmission. Read:Train services to resume at half capacity from Monday The authorities concerned have been asked to keep half of the train seat vacant for ensuring a physical distance, said an official release issued by the Ministry of Railways on Sunday. Passengers can purchase train tickets online, the release added.    

Bangladesh recorded 83 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours until Saturday morning, raising the total fatalities to 10,952. Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities crossed 10,000 on April 15 and the death tally reached near 11,000 within 10 days as the country finds it hard to deal with the pandemic. With the latest figure, the mortality rate rose to 1.48 percent from Friday’s 1.47 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout. Also read: Govt mulls resuming public transport services Besides, 2,697 new cases were detected during the period after examining 20,571 samples. The daily infection rate fell to 13.11 percent from Friday’s 14 percent. Bangladesh has so far tested 5,323,579 samples. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. With the news cases, the total caseload reached 742,400 while the total number of recoveries is 653,151, including 5477 in the last 24 hours. April sees 1,906 coronavirus deaths April has been the deadliest month since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, with 1,906 deaths and 127,632 new cases being recorded in the past 24 days. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,345 or 58.41 percent. Also read: 25 Covid patients die in Delhi hospital Fifty-two of the 83 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 13 from Chattogram division. Three each died in Rajshahi, Sylhet, Rangpur, four in Barishal and five in Khulna divisions. Of 1,068 ICU hospital beds across the country, 322 are now available. Meanwhile, 7,074 general hospital beds, out of 12,237, are unoccupied right now. The surge in Covid infections prompted the government to go for a lockdown from early April but it turned out to be lax and loose. From April 11, the government imposed a ‘stricter lockdown’ and later extended it upto April 28. On Friday, the government allowed shopping malls to reopen from April 25. Improvement ‘unlikely before June’ Meanwhile, a group of experts from both Bangladesh and Oxford University said that the country will witness the similar infection rate intermittently till the end of May while the situation may improve in June.   The possibility was projected in a mathematical model used by Bangladesh Como Modelling Group. Vaccination campaign Launched on February 7, a vaccination drive is underway across Bangladesh with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the vaccine. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the vaccine doses uncertain. On Thursday, Foreign Minister AK Momen assured people that there will be adequate doses of the vaccine. So far, 5,778,686 people have received the first dose and 1,967,975 have got their second jab, according to official figures. Also read: COVID-19 continues to disrupt essential health services in 90pc of countries: WHO

The government is set to impose a nationwide lockdown for a week from Monday morning as part of its tougher move to slow down the rapid spike in both coronavirus infection and mortality rates. The main objective of the lockdown is to control unnecessary public movements and gatherings with stronger monitoring by the members of law enforcement agencies and thus contain the virus transmission. It will be the first official lockdown in Bangladesh to tackle the deadly coronavirus. On March 26 last year, the government had declared general holidays along with a transport shutdown instead of enforcing lockdown as the country was witnessing the surge in coronavirus transmission. As the country has been experiencing record-breaking Covid cases for the past few days, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday announced to impose a weeklong countrywide lockdown. Most offices and factories will remain open during the period, but the employees will work in shifts maintaining health safety rules and government guidelines. Also read: Restriction on gatherings, quarantine rule among PMO’s 18-point directive to contain Covid surge Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued an 18-point directive on March 29 to prevent the transmission of the virus. Restrictions on movement/activities The Cabinet Division on Sunday issued a gazette notification imposing restrictions on the movement of people and other activities for seven days in a bid to improve the situation and enforce the lockdown. The gazette will remain effective from 6 am on April 5 till 12 am on April 11. According to the gazette, all modes of public transport (road, river, rail and domestic flights) will remain suspended during the period.

Bangladesh on Tuesday recorded over 5,000 new coronavirus cases for the second straight day, signalling a tough fight ahead for the country as people are still reluctant about following basic health guidelines. With 5,042 new cases in a 24-hour period until morning, the caseload rose to 605,937, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the coronavirus fatalities climbed to 8,994 with 45 more deaths recorded until morning. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. The DGHS said the infection rate jumped to 18.94 percent from 18.38 percent on Monday when Bangladesh recorded its highest-ever single day case count (5,181). During the 24-hour period, 2,162 coronavirus patients recovered, taking the total number of recovered patients to 540,180. The government has ramped up testing, intensified vaccination campaign and efforts to ensure that the people properly follow health guidelines and hygiene rules. So far, 4,643,645 samples have been tested – including 26,620 in the last 24 hours, the DGHS said. Dhaka sees highest Covid deaths The mortality rate slipped slightly to 1.48 percent on Tuesday. Among the deceased, 37 people died in Dhaka division, three in Chattogram, two in Rajshahi, two in Khulna and one in Sylhet. So far, 5,118 coronavirus patients died in Dhaka division, 1,631 in Chattogram, 501 in Rajshahi, 579 in Khulna, 273 in Barishal, 318 in Sylhet, 373 in Rangpur and 201 in Mymensingh.

Bangladesh recorded seven more Covid-19-related deaths and 515 new cases in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning, registering a fall in its daily infection rate.

Bangladesh saw a decline in Covid-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours until Friday morning but the daily infection rate jumped slightly.

Fifteen more coronavirus-related deaths and 391 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours until Thursday morning.

Bangladesh’s daily coronavirus infection rate fell to 2.65 percent on Thursday as the country ramps up vaccination drive and awareness campaigns.

The global COVID-19 caseload crossed 82 million on Thursday amid reports of a new, more contagious coronavirus variant affecting a number of countries.