Ten more patients have died in the last 24 hours to Sunday morning at the Covid-19 unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), raising the toll at the facility to 301 since the start of June.
The district has also logged 114 new cases of the coronavirus in the same period, compared to 171 on the previous day, reports bdnews24.com.
One of the dead tested positive for the coronavirus, while the others were displaying symptoms consistent with the disease, RMCH Director Brig Gen Shameem Yazdany has said.
A total of 392 tests were conducted on samples from the district in the 24 hours to 6:00 am on Sunday, said Yazdany. The positivity rate for the tests stood at 29 per cent.
Another 55 patients have been admitted to the COVID unit in the past 24 hours, Yazdany said. Of these new patients, 37 are from Rajshahi, four from Chapainawabganj, five from Natore, two from Naogaon, six from Pabna and one from Dinajpur. The hospital unit has also released 55 patients who have recovered from the disease.
As of 6:00 am on Sunday, the hospital unit was caring for 434 patients with only 357 beds. Due to the lack of beds, some patients have been forced to use makeshift beds on the floor or on the hospital verandah.
“To handle the rush of new patients, we are adding another COVID ward. Ward 14, which has 48 beds, is being converted with the addition of oxygen lines. We will start to transfer patients there from today.”
The two labs at RMCH also tested 168 samples from Chapainawabganj for COVID, 20 of which came back positive.
The hospital reported 18 deaths on Jun 24, the most in a single day.COVID cases have spiked in Rajshahi after Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Rajshahi City Corporation imposed lockdown restrictions in the area on Jun 11 after the positivity rate for COVID tests crossed 60 per cent.