The daily death tally due to coronavirus hit a fresh high of 82 in Bangladesh in recent weeks as the Covid-19 infections continued to surge in bordering areas including Rajshahi and Khulna divisions on Sunday.
Of the total, the highest number of fatalities during the last 24 hours until 8:0 am was recorded at 32 in Khulna division, followed by Dhaka with 21 and Rajshahi division with 12.
On the other hand, the number of new Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh shot up to 3,641 on Sunday compared to 3,057 on Saturday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily Covid-19 caseloads in Rajshahi almost tripled to reach 1,023 on Sunday from the previous day's 345 while the new infections in Khulna also jumped to 763 from 625 on Saturday.
Many of the bordering areas, including Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Khulna and Satkhira, have been witnessing surges in the Covid-19 infections in the recent times.
Although the respective district administrations have already imposed restrictions or 'hard lockdown' to contain the virus spread, no visible improvement in the Covid-19 situation has been reported yet.
Meanwhile, with the latest daily counts the total fatalities from coronavirus diseases reached 13,548 until June 20 since the virus was detected in the Bangladesh in March 2020.
A total of 22,231 samples were tested, including antigen-based rapid tests, while 22,262 samples were collected across the country during the last 24 hours.
However, the Covid-19 test positivity rate showed a downward to 16.38 per cent on Sunday from the previous day's 18.02 per cent, said a DGHS press release.
A total of 1,725 more people recovered from the coronavirus disease in the country during the last 24-hour reporting time, the DGDH figures showed.
The rate of recovery from the coronavirus disease was reported at 92 per cent on the day.
On the other hand, the rate of fatalities from Covid-19 also remained static at 1.59 per cent.
According to the official data, the total Covid-19 cases have so far reached 851,668 in Bangladesh and out of them 782,655 had recovered from the deadly disease.
On the other hand, nearly 6.33 million samples had been tested across the country since the virus was detected in the country in March last year.
Meanwhile, a total of 4,064 more people received the first dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine while the government administered 3,371 2nd dose of Astrazeneca-Covishield vaccine across the country on Sunday.
With these, the government administered a total of over 10 million doses of Astrazeneca-Covishield vaccine and 10,576 1st doses of Sinopharm vaccine since the mass Covid-19 vaccination programme was launched in the country on February 7 last.
UNB report adds: Bangladesh's health workers are gearing up to start administering the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in capital Dhaka on Monday as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in the country.
Prof Shamsul Haque, line director of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and a member of the Vaccine Distribution Committee, disclosed it in a health briefing on Sunday.
"We've already received 100,620 doses of vaccine from COVAX facility. We've preserved it. Necessary guidelines and training have been given. Hope, we'll start the inoculation with it on Monday," he said.
The vaccine will be administered first at three hospitals in Dhaka-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Sheikh Russel Gastro-liver Institute and Kurmitola General Hospital.
Those who got registered earlier for vaccination will get priority, Prof Haque added.
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