DHAKA, July 30, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today recorded 48 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 2,695 fresh cases overnight.
The recovery count rose to 132,960 after another 2,668 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.
“Forty-eight more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 3,083,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city this afternoon.
She said the tally of infections has surged to 234,889 as 2,695 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
The health official also informed that a total of 12,937 samples were tested at 82 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.
Of the total sample test in the past 24 hours, 20.83 percent tested positive, while 20.18 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, Nasima added.
Among the total infections, 56.61 percent patients have recovered, while 1.31 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, she said.
On July 28, 4,743 COVID-19 patients received treatments from different healthcare facilities, she said, adding 95.39 percent patients received treatment from their homes through telemedicine and hotline services, while 4.61 percent were given health services at hospitals.
Among 4,743 coronavirus patients, 86 percent are mild cases while 14 percent are suffering from different complicated diseases, the health official added.
Nasima dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram as COVID-19 “hotspots” because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.
Among the 48 deaths, 36 are male and 12 female, she said, adding one is in his 30s, four are in their 40s, 14 in their 50s, 12 in their 60s, 11 in their 70s, five in their 80s and one in his 90s.
According to the division-wise data, 17 deaths took place in Dhaka division and 12 in Chattogram division and rests are in other divisions.
She said as of today, a total of 3,083 people — 2,434 males and 659 females — died from COVID-19 in the country.
Of them, Nasima said, 1,475 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 751 in Chattogram division, 182 in Rajshahi division, 219 in Khulna division, 102 in Barishal division, 151 in Sylhet division, 177 in Rangpur division and 67 in Mymensingh division.
She said a total of 11, 64,195 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.
The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 70 physicians and 20 health workers for round the clock in the country.
A total of 1,48,316 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine, it added.
The DGHS also said nearly 1.79 crore 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 July 30, 2020, 10.29 GMT, 670,907 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 17,213,220 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.