DHAKA, May 31, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today reported 40 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the highest in a daily count, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 650.
“The caseload has also surged to 47,153 as the highest number of 2545 new COVID-19 cases were detected 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 recovery count rose to 9,781 after another 406 patients were discharged from the hospitals.
The health official also informed that a total of 11,876 samples, the highest in a single day, 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.
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.
She said among the 40 deaths, one is in his 20s, five in their 30s, 11 in their 40s, eight in their 50s, 11 in their 60s and four in their 70s.
According to the division-wise data, 28 deaths took place in Dhaka division, eight in Chattogram division, two in Khulna, one each Rangpur and in Rajshahi divisions.
The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram COVID-19 as “hotspots” because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.
As of May 29, Dhaka city has been considered as the worst-affected with 15,553 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 2138 cases, according to the IEDCR data.
It was followed by Narayanganj 1944 cases, Cumilla with 753, Munshiganj with 658, Dhaka with 650, Gazipur with 629 positive cases, Cox’s Bazar with 508, Noakhali with 478 cases, Mymensingh with 424 cases and Rangpur with 409 cases.
Nasima said a total of 3,08 9,30 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, 85, 172 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2,24,991 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 60,181.
It said a total of 629 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 5529 people have now been kept in isolation.
The government has collected 2,4 70,002 PPE so far, of which over 21, 10,393 were distributed and 3,59, 609 are in stock.
The DGHS sources said till today, nearly 87,19,992 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 31, 2020, 10:05 GMT, 371,287 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 6,177,120 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.