The deaths from coronavirus have crossed 150 in Bangladesh with the rise of new cases. The government on Monday reported seven more deaths from COVID-19 and 497 fresh cases by testing 3,812 samples in the last 24 hours. Nine more people recovered and were released from hospitals during the period between 8am of Sunday and 8am of Monday.
With that, the total number of cases stood at 5913 in Bangladesh with 152 deaths and 131 recoveries, additional director general for health Prof Nasima Sultana said at the daily health bulletin. Bangladesh first confirmed the coronavirus cases on March 8 and death on March 18. But on the 51st day of infection, the number approached to 6000.
Most of the patients are staying at home. Prof Nasima said they are also working to collect information of the recovered patients taking treatment from home. Five of the new deceased were aged above 60 and one was aged between 41 years and 50 years and another one was a child aged below 10 years.
Six of them were male and one was female. Five of the dead were from Dhaka, one was from Sylhet, and one other from Rajshahi, Prof Nasima said. Some 101,722 people have been released from quarantine across the country so far. The entire Bangladesh is at risk of the virus and most of the districts found patients who travelled from Dhaka and Narayanaganj – the two hotspots.
Prof Nasima said only four districts --- Khagrachhari, Rangamati, Natore and Satkhira – remained unaffected. One person who was said to have been infected in Natore actually lived in Dhaka and his home district is Natore. “So, it’s the only district in Rajshahi that is yet to be affected,” she said.
Dhaka city still houses the highest number of patients infected by coronavirus. She listed most affected places within Dhaka city --- Rajarbag, Jatrabari, Lalbag, Mohammadpur, Bongshal, Mirpur, Tejgaon, Wari, Shahbag, Uttara and Kakrail. The Cumilla Medical College is starting PCR test from Monday as the government is spreading the testing facilities across Bangladesh. So far, 24 centers have been opened. Prof Nasima said they set a target to open 28 centers in a week.
