Another grim milestone that we didn't want to see
Covid-19 death tally crossed 20,000 mark in Bangladesh today
With 237 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, Bangladesh continues to reach one milestone after another, but like last year, these records make for a grim reading.
On the fourth day of the country seeing more than 200 Covid-19 deaths, the death toll crossed the 20,000 mark today.
The total caseload has reached 12,10,982, with Covid-19 having now had more than 500 days to ravage through Bangladesh.
Only today, 16,230 patients were diagnosed with the disease, making it the highest number of Covid-19 cases registered in a day (until Wednesday 8am).
The authorities confirmed a 30.12% positivity rate after testing 53,887 samples in 639 labs across the country.
The increased testing was also another record, with around 52,000 tested yesterday. This, however, was a drop in the ocean. Among the countries most impacted by Covid-19, Bangladesh has carried out the least amount of tests. Mexico, which is just ahead of it, has set a testing record of 63,026 per million population, while far higher is war-ravaged Iraq which has conducted 310, 923 tests according to Statista.
The number of daily deaths saw a sharp rise as 237 people died of the virus within the same period.
With the latest figures, the death toll reached 20,016 and the case tally stands at 12,10,982, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Dhaka recorded the highest, 70 deaths, followed by Chattogram with 62 deaths. 34 people died in Khulna, 21 in Rajshahi, 18 in Sylhet, 16 in Rangpur, 9 in Barishal, and seven died in Mymensingh division Wednesday.
The first Covid-19 patient in the country was identified on March 8 and the maiden death from the virus was reported on March 18. It took three months for the tally of Covid-19 cases to reach the unwelcome milestone of one lakh.
The first 10,000 Covid-19 cases in the country were found in 58 days whereas at present the same number of cases is reported every three days.