Bangladesh reports lowest Covid-19 deaths in nearly 7 months

The number of daily deaths from Covid-19 declined to 12 in the last 24 hours till 8am Thursday, which was the lowest in the country in around seven months. 

Bangladesh reported 11 Covid-19 casualties on 17 March, followed by a steady spike in daily fatalities.

In the 24 hours till yesterday morning, 663 more people tested positive for the virus, said the Directorate General of Health Services.

The positivity rate was recorded at 2.97% after testing 22,321 samples across the country during the same period.

With the latest figures, the country's death toll reached 27,647 and the case tally increased to 15,60,818.

Among the deaths reported on Thursday, five were in Chattogram, four in Dhaka, two in Khulna, and one in Rajshahi division.

Also, 664 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, with a 97.50% recovery rate.

The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March.

Minister hopes to vaccinate 80 lakh people on Victory Day

Health Minister Zahid Maleque has expressed his hope to vaccinate more than 80 lakh people on the occasion of the Victory Day.  

"We have already given 80 lakh doses of vaccine in one day, which many countries of the world have not yet been able to do. The Victory Day is coming. On that occasion, we hope to be able to administer more than 80 lakh vaccines in one day again," he said at the inauguration ceremony of Oasis, a drug addiction treatment centre at South Keraniganj on Thursday.

The minister also expressed his hope that Bangladesh will be able to export vaccines after meeting the country's demand.  

He said, "The World Health Organisation has promised to give us all the support we need to make the Covid-19 vaccine. This will enable Bangladesh to manufacture and export the vaccines abroad."

At the event, the minister said about 50 lakh people in the country are addicted to drugs and it is inappropriate to say people become criminals just because they take drugs.

"Drugs should be hated, not the drug addicts. If someone is addicted to drugs, he should be remedied through proper treatment," he said.