3 years since the first Covid-19 case in the country, 8 new cases

Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reported eight new Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of 0.71% in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours on 8 March, which marked the third anniversary of the first recorded case of the virus in the country.

On 8 March 2020, the IEDCR announced the first three confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country. Following the death of the first patient from the virus on 18 March of that year, panic began to spread, and the government imposed the first lockdown on 22 March.

So far 29,449 people have died and 2,037,887 tested positive for the virus in Bangladesh since 2020.

People concerned said that the Covid-19 treatment system has improved, and the number of Covid-19 test labs in the country is now 885. Bangladesh has outshined its South Asian neighbours in Covid-19 vaccination.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services, 150,608,831 people have received the first dose, 137,139,339 have received the second dose, 67,395,241 have received the third dose, and 3,148,988 have received the fourth dose.

Dr M Mushtaq Hussain, adviser at IEDCR told The Business Standard, "The World Health Organisation has recently declared Covid-19 as a public health emergency. People have to be careful until an effective vaccine against all forms of Covid-19 comes out."