Bangladesh has recorded its highest single-day coronavirus cases in seven weeks as people continue to ignore health rules and flout government-issued guidelines to curb the virus’ spread.
Data from the health authorities showed a sharp spike in both the number of new cases and daily deaths.
In a 24-hour period until 8:00am on Monday, 3,050 new cases and 54 deaths were recorded, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a press release.
The death toll was the highest since May 10. The mortality rate remained at 1.59 per cent.
Meanwhile, the daily infection rate jumped to 14.80 per cent, highest since April 22. It was 12.99 per cent on Sunday.
With 61,95,714 tests carried out so far, including 20,602 new ones, the overall infection rate stands at 13.40 per cent, the DGHS said.
The ongoing restrictions on people’s movement, which has been extended until June 16, helped bring down the number of cases but the situation seems to be deteriorating over the last few days.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18, 2020.
So far, the health authorities have recorded 8,29,972 cases. But the majority of them, 92.63 per cent, have recovered, including 2,564 in the last 24-hour period.
The local death tally now stands at 13,172. The victims include 9,477 men and 3,695 women.
Among the latest victims, 14 died in Chattogram division, 13 each in Dhaka and Rajshahi, seven in Khulna, five in Rangpur, and one each in Barishal and Mymensingh.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its countrywide vaccination drive on February 7 with doses bought from Serum Institute of India Private Limited.
So far, 58,20,015 people have been administered the first dose of Covishield manufactured by SII, since January 27.
Of them, 42,50,167 received the second shots until Sunday, according to the health authorities.
A vaccine export halt by India forced Bangladesh to keep administering the first dose suspended since April 26.
So far, 2,162 people have received China’s Sinopharm jabs. Another 6,00,000 doses of the vaccine arrived from China as a gift on Sunday afternoon.
Bangladesh received over 1,00,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on May 31 under the Covax facility, run by the WHO and Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
Meanwhile, the US unveiled its strategy for global vaccine sharing through Covax, keeping Bangladesh on the list.
