DHAKA, July 4, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today recorded 29 coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 3,288 fresh cases overnight.
The recovery count rose to 70,721 after another 3,288 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.
“Twenty-nine more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 1,997,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city.
She said the tally of infections has surged to 1, 59,679 as 3,288 new cases were confirmed in the 24 hours.
The health official also informed that a total of 14,727 samples were tested at 63 authorised laboratories across the country during the time.
Among the total infections, 44.29 percent patients have recovered while 1.25 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, she said.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Brushing aside the shortage of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, Nasima said there are 6075 beds and 149 ICUs in 16 COVID-19 dedicated hospital in Dhaka city.
The total number of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients in the country are 14,775 beds and 401 respectively, the health official said, adding now 4708 patients are undergoing treatment at these hospitals and 209 were admitted to the ICUs.
“So, there is no scarcity of ICUs and beds in the hospital for COVID-19 patients,” she added.
Nasima urged the people to abide by health rules to protect themselves from the infection of the deadly virus.
“We’ve to be aware more about codes … Health protection measures are the best remedies to prevent the pandemic,” she added.
She laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives — wearing mask, physical distancing and washing hands by soap — to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Referring to latest health directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the health official 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.
She 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 as COVID-19 “hotspots” because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.
Among the 29 deaths, 21 are male and 8 female, Nasima said adding, one in his 30s, four in their 40s, nine in their 50s, 11 in their 60s, one in his 70s two in their 80s and one between 10 to 20 years.
According to the division-wise data, nine deaths took place in Dhaka division, four in Chattogram division and seven in Rajshahi division while rests are in other divisions.
As of July 4, among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram district including city areas and Narayanganj including city areas are the most hardest- hit ones with 8,035 and 5148 cases respectively, according to the IEDCR data.
It was followed by Cumilla district with 3670, Gazipur district including city areas with 3270 cases, Dhaka district, excluding city areas, with 3106 cases, Sylhet district including city areas with 2550 cases, Cox’s Bazar district with 2,506 cases, Noakhali district with 2239 cases, Faridpur district with 2047 cases, Munshiganj district with 1944 cases, Mymensingh district including city areas with 1889 cases, Khulna district including city areas with 1786, Barishal district including city areas with 1557, Narsingdi district with 1280 cases, Kishoreganj district with 1083 cases and Chandpur district with 1003.
She said a total of 8,32,074 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.
A total of 3, 75,145 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 3, 0,9,995 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 64,150.
It said a total of 632 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 16,449 people have now been kept in isolation.
The government has collected 25, 28,285 PPE so far, of which over 24,07,364 were distributed and 1,20,881 are in stock, the DGHS said.
It said 1,45,86,688 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 July 4, 2020, 10.37 GMT, 529,497 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 11,213,193 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.