Covid-19 cases reach 2.63 lakh, death toll 3,471

Highlights:

• Total infected: 263,503 or 20.46%
• Total death: 3,471 or 1.32%
• Total recovery: 151,972 or 57.67%
• Total sample test: 1,287,988
• Isolated: 19,260
• In Quarantine: 52,807

On the 157th day of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh, the total number of cases reached 263,503 and death toll rose to 3,471. 

Thirty-three more people died and 2,996 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours till Tuesday 8am.

Additional Director General (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Professor Nasima Sultana revealed the latest figures during the daily virtual health bulletin on Tuesday.

Providing more details, she said, "Of the deceased, 28 are men and five women. Moreover, 15 of them are from Dhaka, five each from Rajshahi and Chittagong, four from Rangpur, three from Khulna, and one from Mymensingh division. 

"Thirty of them have died in different hospitals and three at their respective residences."

Professor Nasima added that some 15,317 samples were collected in the last 24 hours and 14,820 were tested in 86 labs across the country. So far, 1,287,988 samples have been tested.

The day's infection rate was 20.22 percent of the total tests, though the overall rate in the country till date was 20.46 percent and death rate was 1.32 percent. 

A total of 1,535 patients were declared free of the virus in the past 24 hours and the total number of recoveries reached 151,972, while the recovery rate was 57.67 percent. 

The gender breakdown of Covid-19's victims shows that 79.20 percent or 2,749 of the total are men, and 20.80 percent or 722 women.

While speaking about division-wise fatalities, Professor Nasima said 1,654 are from the Dhaka division, 816 from Chattogram, 268 from Khulna, 226 from Rajshahi, 158 from Sylhet, 139 from Rangpur, 134 from Barishal, and 76 from Mymensingh division.

No DGHS daily briefing from Wednesday

At the end of the regular health bulletin, Professor Nasima said online briefings would not be held from August 12 on, but there would not be any problems regarding the flow of information.

"As usual, press releases will be sent out to everyone, and all information [regarding the Covid-19 pandemic] will be found there," she added.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) organised the first briefing on the coronavirus issue in the first week of February this year. The IEDCR Director Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora herself used to give the briefings. 

As cases increased in the country, the DGHS joined the IEDCR in the briefings. At the end of March, instead of Professor Flora, the Director of Management Information System of DGHS Dr Md Habibur Rahman started conducting the regular briefings.

The DGHS later decided to conduct an online briefing considering the health risks. At that time, journalists could join the briefing using zoom and took part in the Q&A session at the briefing.

Later, the department started presenting the briefing in the form of a bulletin from the second week of April, omitting the journalists' engagement. Professor Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the DGHS, regularly presented information in the health bulletin.