Covid-19 death toll lowest in a month

The country on Saturday recorded 29 deaths from the novel coronavirus, the lowest in a daily count in more than a month, while the tally of Covid-19 fatalities is approaching the grim milestone of 2,000.

The first death from Covid-19 was reported on March 18 this year. The number of deaths crossed 100 over the following one month and it took another month to reach 500. Within the following fortnight, by June 10, the death tally doubled to 1,012.

Between 8 am Friday and 8 am Saturday, 29 more people died of the disease, raising the death toll to 1,997.

Of the deceased, 21 were men and 8 women. About 80 percent of them were above the age of 50 years.

The death rate is 1.25 percent against the number of Covid-19 positive cases reported in the period, said Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services during a virtual briefing on Saturday.

Saturday's death rate was the lowest since the first death on March 18.

The death rate was as much as over 12 percent in March. It came down to 3 percent in April and hovered around 1.3 percent in June, thanks to a significant leap in the number of daily tests being conducted.

Division-wise, Dhaka had the highest number of deaths, nine, in past 24 hours, followed by Rajshahi, seven, and Chattogram, four.

The number of daily cases of infections across the country was up by about 5 percent to 3,288 from that of the previous day. The rate of infections against total tests was 22 percent over the last 24 hours, and the overall infection rate so far is 19 percent.

Asked about the low death figure, Prof Ridwanur Rahman, former head of the medicine department of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital, said, "The actual scenario is not reflected in the daily counts of the infected and deaths due to the limited testing capacity."

Many more have died at hospitals and their homes with Covid-19 symptoms but they were not tested, he said, adding that cases of infections would also be much higher than what is reported.

According to Brigadier General Jamil Ahmed, director of administration of Kurmitola General Hospital, the number of deaths has dropped at the hospital because doctors have learnt how to better manage patients over time.

"The virus transmission is widespread now but the number of deaths is comparatively low," he said.

Meanwhile, 2,673 people recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours, said Nasima Sultana of the DGHS. More than 70,000 people have recovered so far, with a recovery rate of 44.3 percent against the number of the infected.

Mental health

Before presenting the daily Covid-19 bulletin, Nasima Sultana spoke of psychological stress inflicted by health concern and economic insecurity amid the pandemic.

The enforcement of social distancing keeps people away from loved and dear ones but their touch prompts "our body to secrete hormones" that gives the feeling of safety, satisfaction and inspiration.

Prolonged social distancing may cause psychological separation and become a barrier to the psychological growth of children.

Against this backdrop, Nasima emphasised the importance of showing empathy to children and elderly people and giving special care to them.