Infection rate slightly falls in urban areas but rises in villages

The Covid-19 infection rate has slightly fallen in urban centres recently but the rural areas have seen an upward trend.

"If public transports are allowed for Eid holidaymakers to leave Dhaka for their village homes – ignoring the recommendations of the national technical advisory committee – the infection will increase across the country," said Dr M Mushtuq Husain, Covid-19 pandemic control consultant to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

"It will be difficult to save both life and livelihood if coordinated and serious steps are not taken immediately," he said.

"Everyone in the areas where the infection is higher or that are marked as coronavirus red zones has to be tested, quarantined, isolated and the infection needs to be controlled," said Mushtuq Husain.

Another 3,034 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours until Friday at 8am, raising the tally of total infections to 199,357.

During the time, 51 patients died from the coronavirus, pushing up the death toll to 2,547 in the country.

Friday's Covid-19 infection rate was 22.54 percent of the total tests, while the overall infection rate in the country was 19.80 percent till date.

Professor Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), made the disclosure at a virtual briefing on Friday.

"Among the deceased, 40 were men and 11 were women. Thirteen of them were from Dhaka, 16 from Chattogram, six from Khulna and Barishal each, three from Rajshahi and Sylhet each, and four from Rangpur division," she said.

The health directorate said 42 patients died at different hospitals while nine died at their respective home in the last 24 hours.

Dr Mushtuq said, "Arrangements have to be made to prevent infection in the green zones too. Otherwise, the plague will prolong and the loss of life and economic damage will mount up."

At the virtual briefing, Dr Nasima said, "Some 13,681 samples were collected in the last 24 hours and 13,407 were tested at 80 labs across the country. So far, 1,006,791 samples have been tested."

Besides, 1,762 patients have recovered during the time, increasing the tally to 108,725 and the recovery rate is around 54.54 percent.

A gender-wise analysis of the virus mortality shows that 2,011 men and 536 women died from Covid-19 infection, which are 78.96 percent and 21.04 percent respectively.

District-wise data show Dhaka division tops in mortality rate with 49.28 percent death while Chattogram remains second with 25.72 percent death.