Covid positivity rate keeps falling

Bangladesh has witnessed a fall in Covid-19 positivity rate over the past two and a half weeks, reaching 23.45 per cent on Wednesday down from 32.55 per cent on July 24.

On Wednesday, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) recorded 10,420 positive cases, or 23.45 per cent positivity rate, after testing 44,430 samples in 708 laboratories across the country.

However, the country still continues to face more than 200 deaths per day. In a span of 24 hours still Wednesday 8:00am, Bangladesh recorded 237 deaths from the deadly virus.

With the latest the total death toll reached to 23,398 and positive cases to 13,86,742 since the country first detected Covid positive case on March 8, 2020 and first death 10 days later.

Public health experts said that although no study was conducted over the issue but a decrease in Covid positivity rate might be the result of the national-wide 19 day-long lockdown, imposed by the government from July 23 till August 10.

Mohammad Mushtuq Husain, a public health expert and the adviser of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) said mass vaccination and higher public awareness might also contribute to the fall in positivity rate.

Issuing a warning that the positivity rate might jump back if transmission channels get restored by any means, he also said that “keeping the positivity rate low would now be a challenge as the government has withdrawn the lockdown from today (Wednesday),” he told The Business Post.

Bangladesh’s Covid-19 positivity rate began increasing in mid-June soon after the Delta variant was detected in the country. The positivity rate reached its highest on July 24 at 32.55 per cent.

DGHS spokesperson Professor Md Nazmul Islam said that the government successfully could bring the Covid under control even after a spike.

He also expressed hopes that the declining trend of positivity rate would continue as the government initiated a massive special vaccination campaign alongside continuing its regular vaccination activities.