By: PramodKumar
Bangladesh on Monday (20) reported ten more deaths due to COVID-19, taking the total number of fatalities in the country to 101.
“The toll now stands at 101 as ten more patients died in the past 24 hours,” an official from the directorate general of health services (DHHS) said.
The DGHS additional director general professor Nasima Sultana said that 2,779 COVID-19 suspects were examined in the last 24 hours and 492 were tested positive, the highest so far in a single day since the first case detected in the country on March 8.
The total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country has surged to 2,948.
A senior health official has suggested a further extension of the nationwide shutdown which is due to expire on April 25.
He said that with limited healthcare facilities and equipment including ventilators in hospitals Bangladesh could witness a severe situation if the pandemic spreads in a geometric pattern.
The DGHS director Prof. Nazmul Islam Munna said Bangladesh’s existing 17 COVID-19 testing labs could examine at least 3,060 people everyday “but we are yet to ensure the optimum use of these facilities” though the number of cases examined was increasing everyday.
The entire Bangladesh has been declared as a risky area of COVID-19 infection under the country’s Infectious Disease (Prevention, Control and Elimination) Act, 2018, according to an order issued by the directorate general of health services (DGHS).
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned that the country may face a massive hike in COVID-19 cases in the coming days of April.
