Bangladesh reports highest COVID-19 cases, deaths top 500

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh today reported 1975 fresh cases from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the highest in a daily count, taking the caseload to 35,585, health officials said, BSS reports.

“The fatalities from the pandemic have also surged to 501 as 21 more patients died in the last 24 hours,” DGHS Additional Director General (administration) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.

She said the recovery count rose to 7334 after 433 patients were discharged from hospitals during the period.

Nasima said the recovery rate from the disease in Bangladesh currently stands at 20.61 percent, while the mortality rate is 1.41 percent.

She informed that a total of 9,451 samples were tested at 48 authorised laboratories across the country at the same time.

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

Nasima 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.

The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram COVID-19 “hotspots” as the maximum number of cases were detected in the three cities.

She said a total of 2,53,034 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 2,65, 863 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2,10,458 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 55,405.

It said a total of 626 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,840 people in quarantine, adding nearly 4,446 people have now been kept in isolation.

The government has collected 2,454,737 PPE so far, of which over 20, 66,334 were distributed and 3,88, 803 are in stock.

The DGHS sources said till today, nearly 76, 61,361 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 May 25, 2020, 09:34 GMT, 346,949 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 5,517,034 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.