Shawdesh desk:

Amid a drop in the number of new coronavirus cases in the country, around 77 percent of general beds and 57 percent of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds remained vacant in public and private hospitals across the country till Wednesday morning.

“The number of Covid-19 patients has been declining for the last seven days. We want continuation of the current trend of declining rate of the coronavirus infection. Maintaining health guideline is the only way for continuing this situation,” Dr Md Robed Amin, spokesperson for the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said while presenting its health bulletin on Wednesday.

The DGHS said 1,742 new coronavirus infection cases were detected and 50 patients died in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am on Wednesday. The daily Covid-19 infection detection rate declined to 8.59 percent.

After the second wave of coronavirus infection hit the country, hospitals were overwhelmed with the Covid-19 patients. The abrupt rise in new Covid-19 cases created a crisis of general and ICU beds in hospitals across the country, including in Dhaka.

However, the pressure on general, as well as ICU beds for Covid-19 patients, has reduced over the past few days as the number of patients has dropped across the country.

According to the data of the DGHS available till 8:00 am on May 5, around 77 percent of general beds and 57 percent of ICU beds in public and private hospitals across the country are now vacant.

It said there are 12,542 general beds and 1,090 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds for Covid-19 patients in public and private hospitals across the country, including in Dhaka.

Some 9,622 general beds and 618 ICU beds remained vacant as of Wednesday as a total of 2,920 Covid-19 patients were admitted to general beds and 472 were in ICU beds across the country.

In the capital, the DGHS data said 2,632 general beds and 83 ICU beds remain vacant out of a total of 3,705 general beds and 262 ICU beds in government hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 patients. On the other hand, 1,702 general beds and 377 ICU beds remain vacant out of a total of 2,088 general beds and 509 ICU beds in private hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 patients in the capital.

The first case of Covid-19 was detected in Bangladesh on March 8 last year while the first death was recorded on March 18 the same year.

The number of coronavirus tests and new cases started to decline in the first week of July last year and the fall continued till the first week of March this year.

The number of infections and deaths started rising from March 10 and jumped the single-day cases high in the middle of April.