Bangladesh saw 201 more deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, the highest-ever recorded in a 24-hour period since the disease first broke out in the country in 2020.
The country also recorded 11,162 cases over the same period, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a press release.
With the latest figures, the total death toll from novel coronavirus infection in Bangladesh stands at 15,593 and the caseload at 9,77,568.
The daily infection rate fell slightly to 31.32 per cent from Tuesday’s 31.46 per cent.
The mortality rate went up to 1.60 per cent after remaining at 1.59 per cent for 24 days.
Meanwhile, 5,987 patients recovered during the 24-hour period and the overall recovery rate declined slightly from Tuesday's (87.39 per cent) to 87.00 per cent.
The country reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first coronavirus-related death on March 18 that year.
Good vaccine lineup for Bangladesh
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has already made a good lineup of getting more Covid-19 vaccines from different sources under COVAX along with commercial purchases to ensure a steady supply of jabs for the countrymen.
He said Dhaka is likely to get 2.5 million doses of Covid vaccine from Japan and 1 million from the European Union (EU) under the COVAX framework by this month.
Mentioning that Bangladesh recently got 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine doses from the US under the COVAX facility, he said Washington DC informed Dhaka that the US would send more jabs here.
Momen also said Dhaka is actively engaged to purchase adequate Covid vaccines from China and Russia.
Vaccination drive updates
So far, 95,195 people received the first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, and 2,237 have received the second dose of it.
Meanwhile, 5,010 people have received the first jab of the Pfizer vaccine, including 1,122 in the past 24 hours.
Of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses, 42,93,181 received the second shot and 58,20,015 the first one so far.
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.
Bangladesh is currently administering the doses of Sinopharm vaccine and Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and also the second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Earlier, the government on Monday allowed people aged 35 and above to register for Covid-19 vaccination. People aged 40 and above were earlier eligible to be registered for the inoculation.
The registration for the mass vaccination will resume on Thursday, said DGHS Director General ABM Khurshid Alam, adding that now farmers and workers are also being included in the registration process.
At present, vaccine registration is being done on a priority basis in three categories on the Surokkha app, the DGHS chief said.
