5 more die from coronavirus in Bangladesh; 41 new infected

Five more people died from coronavirus in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 17, according to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

Besides, 41 other people tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the number of such cases in the country to 164, said IEDCR director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora in an online briefing Tuesday.

“In the last 24 hours, 41 people have been diagnosed with the virus. The total number of infected patients in the country is now 164. Five more have people died from the infection in the past 24 hours. The total death toll is now 17,” she said.

Dr Flora also presented further details about the five deceased.

“Four of the deceased are male and another is female. Among them, two were aged above 60, two between 50 to 60 and one between 41 to 50 years old,” said Prof Flora.

Three of the 41 newly-infected patients are in Cumilla, Keraniganj and Chattogram, she said adding that two of the deceased were from Dhaka and others from other districts.

Among the newly-infected people, 28 are male and 13 are female. “Twenty of the newly-infected people are from Dhaka and 15 from Narayanganj,” she said.

“Among the newly-infected people, one is below 10, four aged between 11 to 20 years, 10 between 21 to 30, five between 31 to 40, nine within 41 to 50, seven within 51-60 and five aged above 60,” the IEDCR Director added.

In the past 24 hours, no new patient recovered from COVID-19.

Director General of the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Dr Abul Kalam Azad said 792 samples have been collected in the past 24 hours.

In the last 24 hours, he said, 605 more people have been sent to home quarantine and 32 in institutional quarantine.

“There’re 1550 isolation beds in hospitals in Dhaka and 6143 outside Dhaka,” Dr Azad said.

However, the country currently has only 112 ICU beds, he said adding, “We’re trying to increase the number.”

Earlier, Dr Azad announced that there will be no more online briefing on the coronavirus situation from Wednesday.

“We’ll be sharing the key information as special a bulletin and later detailed information will be shared in a press release,” he said.

Dr Azad added that there will be no scope of question-answer session with media about the coronavirus situation following the bulletin broadcast from Wednesday.

source: UNB