Enamul Hafiz Latifee reports,
Bangladesh on Wednesday, 22 April 2020, reported 10 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and 390 fresh positive cases overnight.
“Ten more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 120,” Additional Director General (administration) of DGHS Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.
She said the total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country has jumped to 3,772 as 390 more people tested positive for the lethal virus during the period.
Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) Director Brigadier General Mohammad Shahidullah also addressed the briefing.
According to the DGHS COVID-19 infection tally, Bangladesh is witnessing a sharp rise of coronavirus cases since 06 April 2020 as 3,684 people tested positive for the super contagious disease in the last 17 days, while 88 cases were recorded from 08 March to 05 April.
Nasima said a total of 29,674 samples have so far been tested since the detection of first COVID-19 cases in the country, adding: “We tested the highest number of 3,096 samples in the past 24 hours, 122 more than the previous day.”
As the trend of the coronavirus cases is on the rise in the country, the government is expanding testing facilities to determine the actual number of COVID-19 cases, Nasima said.
The health official informed that at present, there are 21 labs in the country for testing samples of COVID-19.
Among the 10 fatalities, three are in their 60s, two in their 50s and three in their 40s and two in their 20s she said, adding seven of them are male and three female.
Nasima said among the 10 deaths, seven are in Dhaka and one each in Narayanganj, Mymensingh and Tangail.
She said the total number of recovered patients has now stood at 92 as five patients were cured from the disease over the past 24 hours.
The health official said COVID-19 cases were found in 55 districts meaning that almost all regions of the country are now risky for the fatal disease.
Analyzing area-based transmission of the fatal disease, she said coronavirus positive cases have sharply increased in Gazipur, Mymensingh, Munshiganj, Chattogram, Narsingdi and Keraniganj.
Nasima dubbed Dhaka and Narayanganj COVID-19 as “hotspots” as the maximum number of cases were detected in the two cities.
“Gazipur has been identified as a new hotspot for coronavirus as a large number of positive were found there,” she said.
The health official said till now, Dhaka city is still considered as the worst-affected with maximum number of COVID cases, while Dhaka division has remained top position with 77 percent infected cases out of total coronavirus patients.
Among the four most COVID-prone districts — Narayanganj, Gazipur, Kishoreganj and Narsingdi — 499 cases have so far been reported in Narayanganj district and 364 are in Narayanganj city corporation area. Of the total 120 deaths, 35 are Narayanganj district, Nasima added.
In order to stem the community transmissions of COVID-19, the health official urged the law enforcement agencies and organizations concerned to take strict measures to make the nationwide shutdown more effective.