DHAKA, June 3, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today reported 37 more fatalities from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in a daily count, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 746.
“The caseload has also surged to 55,140 after 2,695 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 11,590 after another 470 patients were released from hospitals in the same period.
The health official also informed that a total of 12,510 samples were tested at 50 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, “If anyone dies of coronavirus (COVID-19), he or she can be buried or cremated following rituals of respective religions.”
Bodies of COVID-19 victims will be buried at their family graveyards, she said, adding there is no need for dedicated graveyards for burial of coronavirus victims.
Referring to the updated guidelines of World Health Organisation (WHO) for COVID-19 dead body management, the health official said by taking necessary precautions, bodies will be buried and cremated after completing all rituals of respective religions.
The health official laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives — wearing masks, physical distancing and washing hands by soap — to contain the spread of COVID-19.
She said people must wear masks to protect themselves from the 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 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, three in their 30s, five in their 40s, 12 in their 50s, 12 in their 60s, four in their 70s.
According to the division-wise data, 19 deaths took place in Dhaka division and 13 in Chattogram division while rests are in other divisions.
The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram as COVID-19 “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 with 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, 45, 583 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 2,92, 813 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2, 34,985 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 57,828.
It said a total of 629 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 6,498 people have now been kept in isolation.
The government has collected 25, 09,142 PPE so far, of which over 21, 70,523 were distributed and 3,38, 619 are in stock.
The DGHS sources said till today, nearly 92,50,577 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 3, 2020, 10:25 GMT, 382,914 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 6,473,972 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.