Daily deaths cross 200-mark in deadliest week

The first week of July was the deadliest with 1,090 deaths since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in 2020 as public health experts said the infection and fatality curves might come down after two more weeks.

In the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning, the country recorded the highest 201 single day deaths as the registration for vaccine resumed on Wednesday after a break of two months.  

Besides, 11,162 more people were diagnosed positive with the virus in the day. With the latest infection and fatality counts, the death tally now stands at 15,593 as the total caseload reaches 977,568, according to the health directorate.    

Earlier, the last week of June appeared to be the deadliest ever as 716 people died from the virus infection.

"The daily deaths have been overtaking the 100-mark for the last one week. Both the mortality and infection rates of citizens above 50 were high in the last week," said Prof Nazmul Islam, a spokesperson to the health directorate.

Prof Nazmul said Dhaka division used to top the fatality rate, but Rajshahi and Khulna have been registering more deaths now.    

To rein in the brutal surge of Covid-19, Bangladesh continues movement curbs and the health authorities said citizens aged 35 and above will be brought under mass immunisation. The minimum age ceiling previously was 40.

Dr Mushtuq Husain, adviser to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) said it would take two weeks more to get the outputs of the lockdown as the infection curve would start to decline.   

"But there are no alternatives to wearing face marks and maintaining social distance now. And the citizens must get vaccinated as soon as possible," he told The Business Standard.

Prof Nazmul said the Covid-19 positivity rate in the past 24 hours rose to 31.32% as the death rate edged up to 1.60%.

"If the upswing in infection continues, July caseload alone will overtake April and June. And if the Covid patients soar unusually, the health system will face a huge challenge," he added in a note of caution.    

According to the latest single-day count, Khulna division registered the highest 66 deaths, followed by Dhaka that logged 58 lives lost to the virus infection.

Twenty-one people died in Chattogram division, 18 in Rajshahi, 14 in Rangpur, nine in Sylhet, eight in Mymensingh and seven died in Barishal division.

In the past 24 hours, 605 labs tested 35,639 samples across the country.

Much has changed since the previous peak in April. The coronavirus is no longer concentrated in big urban areas like Dhaka or Chattogram, and now envelops much of the country, including rural areas that had avoided it for several months.

The new peak also comes as the nation prepares for Eid-ul-Azha celebrations in the third week of this month.