Virus cases ‘surge’ in border areas

Coronavirus cases have surged in the districts bordering India as people's movement in those areas has increased after Eid-ul-Adha, said health directorate chief Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam.

The director general of the health directorate said on Wednesday that they were getting more Covid-19 patients from the districts, especially Dinajpur, after the second largest festival for Muslims.

He said this while addressing a meeting on mosquito-borne diseases at the health directorate in Dhaka.

According to the health directorate, new cases in the south western Chuadanga district and the northern Dinajpur district contrast with the overall declining pattern of infection. Meantime, Covid-19 cases in central Bangladesh district of Rajbari are on the rise. 

At the meeting, Prof Dr Khurshid claimed that Covid-19 deaths are not dropping as infected people opt to stay home and avail telemedicine services. 

He said, "Deaths are on the rise due to late arrival at hospitals. There are clear instructions from the ministry that infected people who have co-morbidity factors or take steroids for any other disease must come to the hospital."

The director general of the health directorate also said that they have found second-time infection cases in the country. However, the number is low.

At the meeting, Additional Director General of the health directorate Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora also echoed Dr Khurshid on infection surge in border areas. 

Emphasising virus protective measures, Dr Flora said though the infection pattern is declining, it would not take long to pick up the pace again if we do not maintain social distancing and do not use a face mask. 

She said, "Many countries are going through second and third waves. From that point of view, we have to keep an eye on preparedness all the time."

Bangladesh virus cases cross 3 lakh mark 

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh reached 302,147 with 2,519 new cases reported in the last 24 hours until Wednesday, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Fifty-four people died in this time raising the death toll to 4,082. The death rate now stands at 1.35 percent.

The latest day's infection rate was 16.72 percent of the total tests, though the overall rate in the country till date was 20.34 percent.

Of the dead, 39 were men and 15 were women. Forty-nine of them died at different hospitals and five at their respective homes.

A total of 3,427 patients were declared free of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours and the total number of recoveries reached 190,183 — with a recovery rate of 62.94 percent.

In the last 24 hours, 15,070 people were tested at 92 labs across the country. So far, 1,485,261 samples have been tested in Bangladesh.