Coronavirus spreads to 60 districts in Bangladesh

The novel coronavirus has spread to 60 districts of Bangladesh.

The only four districts which are yet to have any Covid-19 cases are two hill districts ─ Rangamati and Khagrachhari, and two districts in Khulna division ─ Jhenaidah and Satkhira.

The report is based on information received until 8am on Saturday.

Additional Director General (ADG) (admin) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana made the announcement at the daily online health bulletin on Saturday.

She confirmed 9 more deaths from the novel coronavirus and 309 new cases of infection after testing 3,337 samples in the 24 hours between Friday 8am and Saturday 8am.

With this, the death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 140 and the number of total infected people stands at 4,998 in the country.

Among the deceased, five were female and four were male, she said, adding, "Seven of the deceased were aged over 70 years and another two were above 50 years of age."

Six of the deceased were reported from within Dhaka city and three were from outside of the capital.

However, there was no report of new recovery in the past 24 hours, meaning that the number of recoveries remained static at 112.

Nasima Sultana said 3,337 samples were tested at 21 labs across the country. She further said, due to the holidays, some private centres didn't collect samples and provide reports.

The Nasima Sultana also said two more coronavirus testing centres ─ one in Kushtia Medical College Hospital and another in Savar ─ are now in operation. By the end of this week, the number of testing facilities will increase to 28 in the country, she added.

Protesting a report on an oxygen supply crisis published by a local news outlet, Dr Nasima Sultana said, "There is no shortage of oxygen supply in hospitals and isolation facilities dedicated to the coronavirus response."

"Considering the requirement, we have placed an order to buy an additional 3,050 oxygen cylinders. We are working to make sure that the emptied cylinders are refilled," she added.

Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the maiden Covid-19 positive case in the country.

The government put in force a 10-day general holiday from March 26, which was later extended to 5 May, to contain the spread of the highly infectious virus.

Earlier on April 16, the DGHS declared the entire country as a 'vulnerable zone' to virus infection.

Though the virus has spread to 60 districts of the country, 51.5 percent of the total infections in the country are in Dhaka city. Dhaka division holds 3,682 infections, 89.11 percent of countrywide infections.

Meanwhile, Narayanganj district has 594 coronavirus positive patients, which is followed by Gazipur (261), Kishoreganj (181), and Narsingdi (141).

More than 1,97,000 people have died from the coronavirus and 2,834,136 have got infected globally till Saturday.