Bangladesh sees highest single-day cases, 4 new deaths

Bangladesh has confirmed the highest number of coronavirus cases in a single day.

In last 24 hours till 8am on Friday, 503 new cases of infection were diagnosed across the country after testing 3,686 samples.

The second highest number of infections was 492 on April 20, since the first Covid-19 patient was tracked out on March 8.

The positive aspect is that the number of death has decreased as four new deaths have been recorded in a clock-wise period.

With these casualties, the death toll from the deadly virus rises to 131, and the number of total infected persons stands at 4,689.

Additional Director General (Admin) of Directorate General of Health Services Dr Nasima Sultana made the disclosure during a regular virtual briefing on Friday.

"Four patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. So far a total of 112 patients recovered," Dr Nasima said.

She also said that all the four deceased were males and residents of Dhaka.

"They were aged between 51 years and 60 years," she added.

Expressing her concern about the highest infection in a day, she urged the countrymen to maintain the social distancing properly.

"The number tells us that we need to be more cautious about social distancing," she said.

Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims, is beginning from today.

Dr Nasima urged the people to avoid public gatherings in iftar mahfils during the whole month.

She also mentioned about a notice of the Ministry of Religious Affairs that says, "Not more than 12 persons, including 10 devotees and two imams, would be allowed to offer Isha and Taraweeh prayers in mosques during this Ramadan."

In last 24 hours, a total of 123 people were sent to isolation and 28 were released, Dr Nasima said.

"Currently, 995 people are in isolation units while 3,696 people have been sent to home and institutional quarantine."

She said that 5,095 people were released from the quarantine in the last 24 hours.

Currently, there are 83,734 people staying in both home and institutional quarantine across the country.

In the last 24 hours, 34 doctors received Covid-19 related online training, and 15,363 doctors took the Covid-19 related training until now, who are serving the nation during this crisis, Nasima mentioned.

At present, 3,999 doctors are serving the nation voluntarily.

She said, in the last 24 hours, 166 Covid-19 screening tests were performed where most of the tests were done in the land ports.

As many as 85,590 hotline calls were received on four designated numbers in last 24 hours, added Nasima.

She thanked the Grameenphone, the largest mobile operator in the country, for donating 6,000 personal protective equipment out of its commitment to donate 50,000.