Bangladesh today reported 1,504 COVID-19 cases while the coronavirus claimed overnight 26 lives.

“The tally of infections has surged to 7,86,698 as 1,504 new cases
were confirmed in the last 24 hours . . . 26 people died of COVID-19 during the period,” Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in its routine daily statement.

A total of 26 COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 12,310.

It said 8.22 percent of the 18,294 samples collected in 24 hours were tested positive while the infection rate was only 2.30 percent just on February 8 this year as during the late winter season, the rate started decreasing sharply.

The samples were tested at 482 authorized medical laboratories across the country during the time as the government put in efforts to increase the number of testing centers gradually with resurgence of the pandemic.

The recovery count rose to 7,29,039 after another 1,529 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the past one day.

The DGHS statistics showed of the people infected from the beginning, 92.67 percent recovered, while 1.56 percent died.

It said three out of the 26 died in Dhaka division alone and 19 of them were male while seven were female and added that one is in his 20s, one in his 30s, two are in their 40s, eight in their 50s while 14 are above 60 years.

Bangladesh recorded the highest number of COVID-19 fatality on April 19 this year when the virus killed 112 people in a day.

The DGHS said Bangladesh’s COVID-19 confirmed cases crossed 5,000 mark on March 29, 2021 and 6,000 mark on April 1, 2021 while it surpassed 7,000 mark on April 4, 2021.

The country recorded 7,626 COVID-19 cases on April 7 this year, the highest daily spike since the outbreak of the pandemic, it added.

According to month-wise statistics last year, 51 COVID-19 positive cases were detected in March 2020, 7616 in April, 39,486 in May, 98,330 in June, 92,178 in July, 75,335 in August, 50,483 in September, 44, 205 in October, 57,248 in November and 48,578 in December.

The beginning of the current year witnessed a drastic fall of coronavirus cases in the country but the trend lasted for only two months — 21,629 cases were detected in January and 11,077 in February.

After the drastic fall of COVID-19 confirmed cases, the country witnessed sharp increase of infection as 65,079 cases were reported in March, 2021 and 1,47,837 cases in April.

According to month-wise statistics last year, five COVID-19 deaths were reported in March, 2020, 163 in April, 482 in May, 1,197 in June, 1,264 in July, 1,179 in August, 970 in September, 672 in October, 721 in November and 915 in December.

Month-wise data of the current year, 568 coronavirus fatalities were recorded in January, 2021, 281 in February and 638 in March, the DGHS sources said.

The DGHS said among the total 12,310 fatalities, 7,087 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 2,320 in Chattogram, 649 in Rajshahi, 748 in Khulna, 370 in Barishal, 435 in Sylhet, 447 in Rangpur and 254 in Mymensingh division.

The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for
the COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 100 physicians for round the clock in the country.

It added that 2,80,45,265 people received healthcare services from hotline
mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency healthcare 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 21, 2021, 10.28 GMT, 3,446,291 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are currently 165,906,581 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, 2020 reported the
first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central
China’s Hubei province.bss