Over 7,000 new infections for second consecutive day
The country on Sunday reported 7,087 fresh cases, the highest in a single day since the pandemic hit the country in March last year
The number of daily Covid-19 infections crossed 7,000 for the second consecutive day on Monday in Bangladesh.
In the past 24 hours till 8am Monday, 7,075 new infections were recorded along with 52 more fatalities.
Monday was also the first day of the seven-day lockdown, and the Directorate General of Medical Services (DGHS) authorities said the lockdown period might be extended considering the infection situation.
The country had reported 7,087 fresh cases on Sunday, the highest in a single day since the pandemic hit the country in March last year.
The Monday's new cases took the total Covid-19 count to 6,44,439 with an infection rate of 23.4%.
The death toll also reached 9,318 with a fatality rate of 1.45%.
The government will continue administering the doses of Covid-19 vaccine during the lockdown and the upcoming Ramadan, said Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general of DGHS, in a press statement yesterday.
"Administering the second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will commence from 8 April and the first dose would also be continued simultaneously. People will receive SMS for the second dose from 5 April," the statement said.
People have to bring their vaccine cards with them to the vaccination centre.
According to the press statement, Beximco Pharmaceuticals will assist in vaccine transportation across the country from 6 April.
Bangladesh is administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, produced at the Serum Institute of India, since 7 February. Some 55 lakh people received the first dose of the vaccine so far in the country.
Meanwhile, Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of DGHS, said the government would take decision whether the ongoing lockdown would be extended or not after reviewing the country's Covid-19 infection situation.
He made the remark following a question from a reporter during his visit to the district hospital in Manikganj on Monday.
He said the government would take legal actions against those who would not comply with the recently issued rules by the government to curb the Covid-19 infections in the country.
The health ministry in assistance with the information ministry would carry a countrywide campaign to create awareness about the deadly coronavirus among general people, Khurshid Alam added.
Among the latest day's victims, 34 were men and 18 were women. Fifty of them died while undergoing treatment in different hospitals across the country.
In the past 24 hours, 30,239 samples were tested in 227 labs across the country.
A total of 2,932 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the same period, raising the total number of recoveries to 555,414 with an 86.19% recovery rate.
The country's maiden novel coronavirus cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March of that year.