Both the daily Covid-19 deaths and infections increased in Bangladesh as the country logged an additional 44 deaths and 2,322 infections in the past 24 hours until 8:00am on Tuesday.
The daily health update by Directorate General of Health Services came up with the latest statistics that had taken the overall Covid deaths to 12,913 and infections to 815,282 ever since the disease emerged on March 8, 2020.
A total of 19,165 are tested during the timeline with 12.12 per cent case positivity rate.
Government hospitals recorded 37 deaths, private hospitals recorded three deaths and four others died at home during the reporting period, said the DGHS release.
A total of 2,062 people recovered from the viral disease totalling the number to 755,302.
The daily update shows that 26 of the deceased were aged above 60 years, 10 aged between 51 and 60 years, three between 41 and 50 years, four between 31 and 40 years and one aged between 11 to 20 years.
Rangpur, the northernmost division of Bangladesh, has seen its average daily test positivity rate double over the past two weeks, raising the number of highly Covid-hit divisions to three, almost half of the country.
The average case positivity rate in the division was 24 per cent on Monday, which was around 12 per cent 15 days ago, and is more than double the country’s average positivity rate of 11.47 per cent.
The northern districts of the division such as Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Rangpur and Nilphamari have experienced the rather silent surge of Covid cases while Rajshahi and Khulna divisions have been battling a visible alarming spread of Covid-19 for the last three weeks.
On Monday, several opposition lawmakers expressed their concern over the uncertainty that looms around Covid vaccination procurement while they also demanded a massive reshuffle in the health ministry terming the ministry’s procurement process as a ‘source of corruption’.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Md Harunur Rashid said that the government must make a clear announcement when the Covid vaccine will be made available.
He suggested that, if necessary, the government should allow the private sector to carry out vaccination programmes by ensuring steps to check corruption.
Earlier, an advisor of the prime minister was involved in importing vaccines, he said, and wondered why India breached such an agreement in this time of crisis.
BNP lawmaker Rumeen Farhana said that the people are paying for the failure of the health ministry.
No incentive care unit has been installed in 45 districts even after the prime minister’s order to the ministry to set up an ICU at every district, she said.
