Shawdesh Desk:

The daily Covid test positivity rate hit record 32.55 per cent in 24 hours till 8:00am on Saturday due mainly to the 8-day relaxation of restrictions on public movement and business activities for Eid and violation of the restrictions before the relaxation.

The country’s Covid death toll also surpassed 19,000 on Saturday as 195 more people died of the viral disease during the 24-hour period.

A total of 6,780 new cases were also detected in the 24 hours testing 20,827 samples.

With the latest figures, the country’s Covid death toll reached 19,046 and the number of cases 11,53,344, as per a Directorate General of Health Services release.

Before Saturday, the highest daily test positivity rate was at 32.19 per cent on Thursday.

The rate earlier hit record 31.91 per cent on August 3, 2020, after the first cases of coronavirus had been detected in the country on March 8, 2020.

Health minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday at a virtual opinion sharing meeting said that the number of Covid deaths, the test positivity and bed occupancy rates and oxygen requirement had increased manifolds in recent times.

‘Earlier, the test positivity rate went down to below 5 per cent but the rate is now 30 to 32 per cent. The number of deaths has also increased by around 10 times,’ he said.

Maleque said that the country earlier used to witness 10 to 15 Covid deaths a day but the number of  deaths had now increased to around 200.

‘It is alarming. It is not acceptable,’ he said.

The minister also said that the bed occupancy had also increased by around 10 times and oxygen requirement by four to five times.

The ongoing month of July has already become the worst Covid month since the beginning of the outbreak in March 2020 as more than 2.4 lakh cases and 4,543 deaths have been recorded this month till 8:00am on Saturday.

With 1.4 lakh cases and 2,404 deaths, April had been the deadliest month.

Since July 7, the daily death toll has crossed 200 in 11 days with the highest 231 on July 19.

The daily positivity rate rose to 31.41 per cent on July 6 and stayed at over 30 per cent in 10 days.

Professor Nazrul Islam, a virologist and also a member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, told New Age that the test positivity rate increased as people did not wear masks.

‘Restrictions can stop the spread of infection from one place to another but if people continue to roam without wearing masks, the infection will spread in the community,’ he said.

Nazrul also questioned whether the authorities kept the track of hundreds of people who tested positive for Covid-19 daily.

‘The government should keep the people who test positive for Covid-19 in strict isolation to stop the outbreak,’ Nazrul added.

The DGHS in its daily update showed that of the 195 people died of Covid-19 in the 24 hours, 103 were men and 92 women.

A total of 159 of them died in public hospitals, 31 in private hospitals and five at home, according to the government statistics.

Dhaka division logged the highest death of 68 people while 41 people died in Khulna, 36 in Chattogram, 18 in Rajshshi, 16 in Rangpur, 10 in Mymensingh, five in Barishal, and one in Sylhet.

The highest 38.96 per cent positivity rate was recorded in Barishal division, followed by 35.41 per cent in Chattogram, 34.79 per cent in Sylhet, 33.77 per cent in Dhaka, 28.42 per cent in Rajshahi,  25 per cent in Rangpur and Khulna and 24 per cent in Mymensingh.

Among the deceased, one was aged over 100 years, two were between 91 years and 100 years, 16 between 81 years and 90 years, 34 between 71 years and 80 years, 47 between 61 years and 70 years, 45 between 51 years and 60 years, 31 between 41 years and 50 years, 16 between 31 years and 40 years, two between 11 years and 20 years and one was under 10 years, said the DGHS release.

Besides the deaths from Covid-19, reports received from different districts said that a good number of people died with Covid symptoms at the Covid units of hospitals in the districts.

The DGHS press release did not, however, mention the number of deaths with Covid symptoms.

At least 82 patients died at the Covid units of hospitals in Khulna, Rajshshi, Kushtia, Chattogram, Satkhira, Mymensingh, Barishal, Jashore and Cumilla districts in the 24 hours till Saturday morning.

Of the deceased, 49 were Covid patients and 33 had Covid symptoms, according to the reports.

In Khulna, six patients — four Covid patients

and two with Covid symptoms — died in the dedicated-Covid hospital and one Covid patient each died in Gazi Medical College Hospital and Shaheed Sheikh Abu Naser Hospital, New Age correspondent in Khulna, quoting officials of the hospitals, reported.

New Age correspondent in Rajshahi, quoting Rajshahi Medical College Hospital director Brigadier General Shameem Yazdany, reported that 11 patients — seven Covid patients and four having symptoms — died at the Covid unit of the hospital in the past 24 hours.

New Age Islamic University correspondent, quoting Kushtia civil surgeon Anowarul Islam, reported that 14 people — 13 Covid patients and one with symptoms — died in the district during the time.

New Age correspondent in Chattogram, quoting district civil surgeon Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, reported that six Covid patients died at hospitals in Chattogram in the past 24 hours.

New Age correspondent in Satkhira, quoting the SaMCH superintendent Kudrat-e-Khuda, reported that four patients having Covid symptoms died at the Covid unit of the hospital during the period.

New Age correspondent in Mymensingh, quoting  Mymensingh Medical College Hospital’s Covid unit focal person Dr Mahiuddin Khan Moon, reported that 14 patients — two Covid  patients and 12 having symptoms — died in the Covid unit of the hospital during the time.

New Age correspondent in Barishal reported that 13 patients, three Covid patients and 10 with symptoms, died in the past 24 hours in the division.

Daily Covid test positivity rate in past 10 days

Date     Daily positivity rate (in percentage)

July 15 27.23 per cent

July 16 28.96 per cent

July 17 29.06 per cent

July 18 29.9 per cent

July 19 29.59 per cent

July 20 29.31 per cent

July 21 30.48 per cent

July 22 32.19 per cent

July 23 31.05 per cent

July 24 32.55 per cent

Source: Directorate General of Health Services