DHAKA, May 24, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today reported 28 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the highest in a daily count, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 480.
The caseload has also surged to 33,610 after another 1,532 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, a top health official said.
“The recovery count rose to 6,901 after 415 patients were discharged from hospitals during the period,” DGHS Additional Director General (administration) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.
Nasima said the recovery rate from the disease in Bangladesh currently stands at 20.53 percent, while the mortality rate is 1.43 percent.
She informed that a total of 8908 samples were tested at the authorised laboratories across the country at the same time.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Nasima said nearly 75 percent COVID-19 patients are taking treatment from their homes, and many of them are being cured every day after receiving treatment through hotlines.
She said COVID-19 cases were found in 64 districts, meaning that all regions of the country are now risky for the fatal disease.
The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram COVID-19 as “hotspots” as the maximum number of cases were detected in the three cities.
She said a total of 2,43,583 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.
The health official said a total of 4150 isolation beds have been added to the healthcare services in Dhaka city. There are 13,284 isolation beds in the country and of them, 7,250 are in Dhaka city.
She said in case of critical COVID-19 patients, special facilities including oxygen, ICU and dialysis units are needed in hospitals.
At present, the country has a total of 399 ICUs and 106 dialysis units, Nasima said.
According to the DGHS, a total of 2,63, 479 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2,083,46 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 55,153.
It said a total of 626 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,840 people in quarantine, adding nearly 4,446 people have now been kept in isolation.
The health service organization said as part of taking preventative measures to stop imported cases of COVID-19, the authorities of all gateways, including airports, land ports and waterways, are continuing screening of all foreign returnees.
The government has collected 2,454,737 PPE so far, of which over 20, 64,934 were distributed and 3,89, 803 are in stock.
The DGHS sources said till today, nearly 74, 83,402 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.
To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.
As of May 24, 2020, 09:34 GMT, 344,332 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 5,422,465 currently confirmed cases in 212 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.
China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.