Bangladesh recorded 248 more coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours on Friday till 8:00am.
Besides, 12,606 people tested positive for the virus during the same period, according to a release issued by the Directorate of Health Services (DGHS).
With the latest figures, the death toll from the virus now stands at 22,150 and the total cases at 13,35,260.
In the 24 hours, the positivity rate dropped to 26.25 per cent from Thursday's 27.12 per cent after testing 48,015 samples at 707 laboratories across the country.
The country has so far tested 80,43,693 samples.
Meanwhile, 15,494 patients recovered from the deadly infection in the last 24-hours.
Among the fresh fatalities, 138 were males and 110 were females.
Chattogram division was the worst-hit region, logging 75 deaths followed by 69 in Dhaka, 36 in Khulna, 20 in Barishal, 16 each in Rajshahi and Sylhet, and 8 each in Rangpur and Mymensingh.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first coronavirus-related death on March 18 the same year.
Vaccination drive
The government is going to start a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign from Saturday to contain the rapid spread of the deadly virus in the country.
So far, 33,17,582 people have received the first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, and 92,248 the second dose.
Meanwhile, 50,255 people have received the first jab of the Pfizer vaccine, and 7,038 the second dose.
Of the AstraZeneca vaccine, 58,20,063 received the first shot while 43,44,231 the second shot.
The government has so far approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinopharm (China), Sputnik-V (Russia), Pfizer-BioNTech (USA/Germany) and Crona Vac (China) and Janssen single-dose vaccines.
Earlier, the government allowed people aged 25 and above to register for Covid-19 vaccination. People aged 30 and above were earlier eligible to be registered for the inoculation.
Delta variant symptoms
The main variant of concern now in Bangladesh, and indeed worldwide, is the Delta variant. This variant spreads more quickly than the original virus, increasing the number of hospitalisations or deaths.
The Delta variant is believed by the WHO to be 50 per cent more transmissible and might become the dominant form of the virus in the next few months.
The variant was found in 98 per cent of the Covid-19 samples tested by BSMMU as part of a research project.
Another study found that some 93 per cent of Chattogram's Covid-19 patients in July were infected by the Delta variant.
