Zero Covid death for first time in 19 months

Bangladesh yesterday reported zero deaths from Covid-19 in a day for the first time since April 3 last year, raising optimism that the country has tamed the rogue virus that has claimed 27,946 lives and billions in losses to the economy.

However, public health experts are not rejoicing the statistic yet and urged for caution.

"It's not over until the virus is not controlled everywhere in the world -- many countries earlier witnessed zero deaths and cases only to see both jump again," said Mushtuq Hossain, consultant of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.

In recent days, the transmission has been rising in many countries despite having it under control for a good while, he said.

For instance, Austria announced a full national lockdown starting Monday following record case numbers, while neighbouring Germany has seen several days of record infections this week. The Netherlands introduced a partial lockdown last weekend, while Belgium enforced tight restrictions on Saturday.

The Directorate General of Health Services reported the first casualty from Covid-19 on March 18 last year.

Meanwhile, in the 24 hours to 8 am yesterday, the DGHS reported 178 new cases with a positivity rate of 1.18 percent.

During the period, 190 Covid-19 patients have recovered from their illness.