The government on Friday confirmed 42 more deaths from Covid19 and 3,114 new cases overnight.
Additional Director General for Health Prof Nasima Sultana at the daily briefing said 1,606 patients also recovered during the period of 24 hours till 8am.
With that, the number of cases rose to 156,391, deaths 1,968 and recoveries 68,048.
In the last 24 hours, 14,650 samples had been tested across the country.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus cases on March 8, and first death on March 18. The WHO declared the disease pandemic on March 11.
Prof Nasima ruled out the shortage of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, and said there are 6075 beds and 149 ICUs in 16 COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in Dhaka city.
The total number of beds and ICUs in Bangladesh are 14,775 and 401 respectively. Currently, 4708 patients are undergoing treatment at these hospitals and 209 were admitted to the ICUs, she said, adding that there is “no scarcity” of ICUs and beds in the hospital.
She also urged people to abide by health rules to protect themselves from the infection.
She laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives — wearing mask, physical distancing and washing hands by soap — to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“We can reuse cloth-made masks after washing by detergents or soaps,” she said, referring to the WHO’s guidelines in this regard.
Among the 42 deaths, 32 were male and 10 female.
Three were in their 20s, one in his 30s, five in their 40s, 11 in their 50s, 11 in their 60s, seven in their 70s and three in their 80s
According to the division-wise data, 18 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 10 in Chattogram division, three in Khulna division, three in Rajshahi division and four in Rangpur division while rests are in other divisions.
Thirty-one patients died at different hospitals, and 11 died at their respective homes.
According to the latest data, 43.51 percent patients have recovered and 1.26 percent died.
The latest day's infection rate based on the sample tested was 21.26 percent. The rate in the country till date counts 19.13 percent.
Currently, 63,556 people are quarantined across the country – including 2,714 newly-quarantined individuals. A total of 308,347 people have completed their quarantine periods.
The authorities placed 877 new individuals suspected of having Covid-19 into isolation, bringing the total to 15,947 after 13432 left.
Prof Nasima also gave the logistics count and said currently, there are 11,141 oxygen cylinders, 206 hi-flow nasal cannulas and 98 oxygen concentrators across the country.
