Deaths leap after a lull

The 13 deaths reported yesterday were an unexpected spike in the number of Covid-19 fatalities after over a week in single digits.

The fresh deaths, the second highest in a day, takes the total toll to 199. On April 17, the authorities reported the highest 15 deaths in a day.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also reported 706 new cases taking the total confirmed patients to 12,425.

Experts, however, said the number of reported deaths and new cases are far from the reality.

Inadequate testing and mismanagement on the part of the DGHS are to blame for this situation, they said.

"The number of deaths does not represent the reality. Many of the deaths that appear to be from Covid-19 are not being investigated and counted," said infectious diseases specialist Prof Ridwanur Rahman.

"If there were enough tests, the number of confirmed deaths would be higher," he told The Daily Star.

On May 4 and 5, the number of reported deaths across the country was five and one.

In the two days, 23 patients died from what appeared to be coronavirus at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, which is being used for treating Covid-19 patients, officials said.

The authorities handed over the bodies to family members without collecting samples for testing, officials said, adding that they didn't have the capacity to test or store the bodies.

Since Saturday, 40 patients have died there.

"As the number of daily tests is inadequate, the daily case detection may not cross the 1000-mark," Prof Ridwanur said.

"There must be many hidden cases across the country and they have not been isolated. But they are spreading the virus, nevertheless," said the specialist.

Another expert from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said, "What's happening is either mismanagement, or the DGHS is trying to hide the number of deaths, hoping to prove their competency to the high ups."

COVID-19 SITUATION

At the daily briefing yesterday, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of DGHS, said 130 patients cured in 24 hours, taking the total recovered patients to 1,910.

Unlike other days, she did not mention the day's death toll. The DGHS mentioned the number of deaths in a press release hours later.

Of the 13 new victims, eight were men, five women, six residents of the capital, three of Dhaka's upazilas, and four of Chattogram division, she said.

Six of the deceased were over 60, four between 51 and 60, two between 41 and 50 and one between 11 and 20

The person aged between 11 and 20 was also a cancer patient, according to the DGHS press release.

Seventy-three percent of the people who died in the country from Covid-19 were men, 42 percent aged above 60, 27 percent aged between 51 and 60, 19 percent between 41 and 50, seven percent between 31 and 40, three percent between 21 and 30 and two percent under 10.

Dhaka continues to be the worst-affected region with almost 60 percent of the total cases.

Until May 1, around 54.7 percent of the cases were reported in Dhaka city.

Yesterday, the Center for Advanced Research in Sciences (CARS) at Dhaka University started the coronavirus testing, raising the total number of testing labs to 34.

In the 24 hours before 2:30pm yesterday, the 34 labs tested 5,867 swabs.

The 18 laboratories in Dhaka tested 3,888 samples and the 16 outside Dhaka tested 1,979. As of yesterday 105,513 people have been tested.