Bangladesh coronavirus cases cross 50,000 mark

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh today exceeded 50,000 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases as 2,911 more people tested positive overnight, the highest in a daily count, BSS reports.

“The fatalities from the pandamic have also surged to 709 as 37 patients died in the last 24 hours,” DGHS Additional Director General Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.

She said the caseload has spiralled to 52,445 after 2,911 new COVID-19 cases were detected at the time.

Nasima said the recovery count rose to 11,120 after another 523 patients were discharged from the hospitals in the same period.

She also informed that the highest number of 12,704 samples were tested at 52 authorised labs across the country during that time.

Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.

The health official said nearly 75 percent COVID-19 patients are taking treatment from their homes, and many of them are being cured every day after receiving treatment through hotlines.

She said among the 37 deaths, one is in his 20s, four in their 30s, one in his 40s, 10 in their 50s, nine in their 60s, 10 in their 70s and two in their 80s.

According to the division-wise data, Nasima said, 10 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 15 in Chattogram division, four in Sylhet division, three in Barishal division, one in Mymensingh division, two each in Rajshahi and Rangpur division.

The health official laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives — wearing mask, physical distancing and washing hands by soap — to contain the spread of COVID-19.

She said the people must wear masks to protect themselves from infections of coronavirus and mentioned that scientifically cloth-made mask is equally effective to prevent the virus.

“We can reuse cloth-made masks after washing by detergents or soaps,” Nasima said.

Nasima dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram COVID-19 as “hotspots” because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.

As of May 31, Dhaka city has been considered as the worst-affected with 16,688 COVID cases, according to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

Among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram is the most hardest- hit one with 2,441 cases, according to the IEDCR data.

It was followed by Narayanganj 2147 cases, Dhaka with 1076, Gazipur with 1065, Cumilla with 846 , Munshiganj with 757, Cox’s Bazar with 734, Noakhali with 626 cases, Mymensingh with 491 cases and Rangpur with 427 cases.

She said a total of 3, 33, 073 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

According to the DGHS, a total of 2, 90, 385 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2, 31,840 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 58,545.

It said a total of 629 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 6,240 people have now been kept in isolation.

The government has collected 2,4 99,182 PPE so far, of which over 21, 60,723 were distributed and 3,38, 459 are in stock.

The DGHS sources said till today, nearly 90,73,511 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.

To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.

As of June 2, 2020, 10:25 GMT, 377,888 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 6,389,495 currently confirmed cases in 212 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.

China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.