Coronavirus infections may rise due to Eid and flood: Health minister

Highlights:

Total infected: 2,34,889 or 20.18%

Total death: 3,083 or 1.31%

Total recovery: 132,960 or 56.61%

Total sample test: 11,64,195

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday warned that flouting of health guidelines during Eid-ul-Adha celebrations and floods that have affected many districts might lead to a rise in Covid-19 infection rate in the country.

The minister expressed his concerns at the signing ceremony of the Annual Performance Agreement (APA) between the departments and agencies under the Health Education and Family Welfare Department at the ministry's conference room.

"There are a number of health rules that need to be followed for preventing the spread of the coronavirus," Zahid Maleque said.

"But the hygiene rules may be overlooked during Eid journeys and at the cattle markets," he said, adding that in many areas, floods have forced many people to take shelter in one place.

He said these two factors are likely increase the rate of coronavirus infections.

The health minister further said 60 percent beds in Covid-19 dedicated hospitals are empty because of a timely initiative taken by the government to curb the spread of the virus. There are no patients in half of the Covid-19 dedicated ICU beds too.

Regarding the low number of Covid-19 patients in the hospitals, the Health Minister further said, "The government has been able to take some initiatives to deal with Covid-19 quickly. At first, only Dhaka Medical College had a central oxygen system. Now about 70 hospitals are being provided with a central oxygen system including some in district cities. 

"Through our telemedicine system, hundreds of doctors are providing online medical services to Covid-19 patients. In addition, some new effective medical services are being provided to Covid dedicated hospitals as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation. As a result, the rate of infection in the country is slowly declining."

Responding to a question on the declining number of coronavirus tests, the health minister said the reluctance of people to take the test, the flood disaster and the lack of asymptomatic testing everywhere could have reduced the rate a bit. He also mentioned in the meeting that 30,000 nurses will be recruited shortly.

Covid-19 infection rate is still 20 percent

Bangladesh confirmed 48 more deaths from the novel coronavirus between Wednesday 8am and Thursday 8am. With this, the death toll from the deadly virus rose to 3,083 and the death rate stood at 1.31 percent.

In the 24-hour period, 2,695 people tested positive for Covid-19 and the infection rate for the day stood at 20.83 percent, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The total number of cases reached 234,889 and the overall infection rate in the country till Thursday morning stood 20.18 percent, DGHS Additional Director General Professor Dr Nasima Sultana said during the daily virtual health bulletin.

She added that 12,937 samples were tested in 82 labs across the country and a total of 1,164,195 samples had been tested till date. 

"Of the deceased patients, 36 are men and 12 women. Of the total deaths from coronavirus so far, 2,424 were men and 656 were women," said Professor Dr Nasima Sultana.

Of the people who died in the last 24 hours, 17 hailed from Dhaka, 12 from Chattogram, three from Rajshahi, five from Khulna and Sylhet each, and two each from Barishal, Rangpur, Mymensingh divisions.

"Seven died at their respective homes while 41 died in different hospitals," the DGHS official added.

Additionally, some 2,668 patients recovered between Wednesday and Thursday morning, increasing the tally to 132,960. The recovery rate stood at 56.61 percent.