Home ›› 05 Feb 2022 ›› Back
Covid-19 infections recorded by Bangladesh in January this year show a nearly tenfold increase in cases when compared year-on-year.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) statistics revealed that the country recorded 213,294 positive cases this January, a sharp increase from 21,629 cases posted in the same month last year – signifying a staggering 886 per cent increase.
Bangladesh witnessed a surge in Omicron variant cases this year, while last year, the Delta variant dominated the infection wave. DGHS officials said though the infection rate among people was higher due to the new variant this January, the death rate was lower.
DGHS recorded a .15 per cent death rate due to Omicron during this period, while Delta triggered a 2.62 per cent death rate. Bangladesh logged 568 Covid deaths in January last year, compared to 322 fatalities posted in January 2022.
Quoting global data, public health experts say the Omicron variant is more infectious than Delta, but Delta is more deadly than Omicron.
Death rate among the infected people decreased for other reasons as well. Most importantly, Bangladesh managed to vaccinate a significant number of people since last year, which helped the people fight back against the pandemic.
Friday’s Covid-19 cases, deaths
Amid this reality, the DGHS recorded at least 9,052 new infections and 30 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours till 8am on Friday. The current positivity rate is 22.95 per cent, while the total positivity rate stands at 14.58 percent.
Including the latest cases, the total number of Covid-19 deaths in the country now stands at 28,524, and the mortality rate stands at 1.55 percent. Besides, the total number of cases rose to 18,44,828, says a DGHS press release.
In the 24-hour period, 39,445 samples were tested across the country.
Bangladesh first detected a Covid-19 case on March 8, 2020 and first fatality 10 days after the first detection. The government started a vaccination programme on February 1 last year to combat the deadly virus.
