Covid-19 Situation: Country records deadliest week

Bangladesh yesterday recorded 261 deaths from Covid-19 to cap the deadliest week, ending yesterday, since the first confirmed cases of the coronavirus were announced on March 8 last year.

This is the second-highest number of deaths from Covid-19 as the most virulent Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in the country on May 8, continues to wreak havoc.

On Thursday, the country had recorded the highest number of deaths: 264.

In the week, a total of 1,726 died from Covid-19, up 5.3 percent from a week earlier, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

On the bright side, the number of new cases has decreased 2.3 percent despite a 3.5 percent increase in tests.

The DGHS data, however, showed the infection trend was on the up in 21 districts and stable in five districts across the country as of yesterday. In the remaining 38 districts, the infection trend was downward.

Besides, the number of recoveries has also increased by more than 23 percent during the period.

In the 24 hours to 8:00am yesterday, the country registered 8,136 new cases after testing 31,714 samples.

The positivity rate was 25.65 percent yesterday, a continuous downward trend since Monday when a positivity rate of 30 percent was reported.

On the previous day, the positivity rate was 26.25 percent.

With the latest count, the total number of fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 22,411 and the total confirmed cases to 13,43,396.

The Dhaka division saw the highest number of deaths yesterday (101), followed by Chattogram (62), Khulna (45), Mymensingh (16), Barishal (12), Rangpur (10), Rajshahi (8) and Sylhet (7).