Covid deaths up 20,000-mark

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh on Wednesday surpassed the grim 20,000 mark in deaths from Covid-19 virus after the pandemic hit the country in March 2020.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in its daily update said the country recorded 237 new deaths and 16,230 new positive cases, the highest in a span of 24 hours, amid the ongoing strict lockdown enforced by the government.

With the new deaths, the country’s total death count from Covid-19 stood at 20,016, while the total number of positive cases rose to 12,10,982.

Till 8:00am of Wednesday, the country’s positivity rate stood at 30.12 per cent after testing 53,877 samples in 639 laboratories.

Previously, Bangladesh recorded its highest on Monday with 15,192 positive cases. The following day, the country recorded 258 deaths from the virus.

Among the deceased, 149 were male and 88 female. Of them, 224 died in hospitals while 13 in their homes.

Meanwhile, 13,470 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, totaling the recovery to 10,35,884.

Dhaka division logged the highest 70 deaths, followed by 62 in Chattogram, 34 in Khulna, 21 in Rajshahi, 18 in Sylhet, 16 in Rangpur, nine in Barishal, seven in Mymensingh.

Gazipur posted the highest positivity rate at 62.47 per cent, while it was 28.93 per cent in Dhaka.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh is also fighting against dengue fever as 153 new cases, the highest this year, was detected in last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, an 11-year old girl also died with dengue fever on Wednesday at Sir Salimullah Medical College in Dhaka.

In a separate press release, DGHS said that this year 2,098 dengue cases were recorded, including 1,726 in current month.