The daily COVID-19 deaths and infections showed no sign of letting up with 32 more deaths and 3,141 new infections recorded in the 24 hours ending at 800am Sunday.
Bangladesh ended up 18th on the list of the worst-hit countries in the world as it entered the 15th week of infection with 14,505 tests carried out in the 24-hour period.
Bangladesh crossed past China in the number of total infections on Saturday with the lowest number of tests done among the 20 worst-hit countries in the world.
On average, Bangladesh tests 3,065 people per million while India 4,102 and Pakistan 3,936.
India reported 5 deaths while Pakistan 81 in the last 24 hours.
The rate of positive cases found among the tested in Bangladesh rose to 21.65 per cent, which hovered around 20 per cent in the previous three weeks.
“I say with a heavy heart that healthcare providers and prominent personalities are getting infected with the new virus every day and dying,” said health services spokesperson Nasima Sultana in the routine online press briefing on Sunday.
In fact, she said, the virus is sparing none — infecting members of the law enforcement agencies, administration officials, members of the judiciary, journalists, teachers, bankers, insurers, businessmen and so on.
The coronavirus has so far killed 1,171 people and infected 87,520 since it emerged in the country on March 8. The country announced its first death from COVID-19 on March 18.
Low numbers of tests was initially blamed for unusually few new cases in the first four weeks of the infection, when the daily test number stayed less than 100 on average with an average of less than 5 per cent positive cases.
The next five weeks, when the country was under lockdown restrictions, saw relatively higher positive cases — between 7 per cent and 13 per cent.
The rate of positive cases detected among the tested crossed 14 per cent in the 10th week and steadily increased ever since.
It was after the partial lifting of lockdown restrictions in the 2nd week of May that the first report of a prominent personality like National Professor Anisuzzaman dying of COVID-19 came.
Just two weeks after the lockdown was fully lifted at the end of May that newspapers were flooded with reports of prominent personalities and their relatives dying from the infection.
A current minister, the wife of the newly-appointed health secretary, prominent physicians and the chief of Dhaka Rationing were among them.
“The coronavirus is taking its toll on the general people too,” said Nasima in the press conference.
She said that 903 people recovered during the last 24 hours, taking the total recovery to 18,730.
Of the newly deceased, she said, 27 were men and five women.
The highest 10 of the dead were aged between 51 and 60 years, nine between 61 and 70 years, six between 41 and 50 years, three between 81 and 90 years, two between 71 and 80 years and another two between 21 and 40, according to the health services.
Sixteen of the deceased were in Dhaka division while 11 in Chattogram division, two in Sylhet division and one each in Rangpur, Barishal and Mymensingh divisions.
Of them, 20 people died at hospitals while 11 others at home. One died on the way to hospital.
The emergence of COVID-19 has overwhelmed Bangladesh’s health system with people with non- COVID-19 diseases being denied treatment at hospitals.
The COVID-19 patients have been asked to stay at home until they were critically ill and hospitals were far from equipped and lacking emergency oxygen supply.
Affluent people have started panic buying of oxygen cylinders as stories of influential politicians and businessmen struggling to find proper treatment in time got circulated through the media.
With different studies suggesting that the coronavirus is pushing millions below the poverty line, the health services on Sunday ended its press briefing just like any other day by advising everyone to stay positive and eat nutritious food to fight off the coronavirus.
“Pass quality time, keep busy in creative work and eat a lot of nutritious, liquid and vitamin-C-rich foods to keep the coronavirus away,” said Nasima Sultana.
“Prevention is better than cure,” she reminded.
