Males are more vulnerable to the novel coronavirus compared to females in the country as 31 victims were male out of total 39 died from Covid-19 in the 24-hours to 8:00am Thursday.
The Covid-19 pandemic has so far claimed 2,496 lives, of which 78.97 per cent or 1,971 were men and 21.03 per cent or 525 were women.
The figures were revealed by the state-run Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Contacted, former vice principal of a medical college Prof. Dr. S.M.A. Khaleque said males are more likely to be exposed to an infected person as they have to go out of home for different purposes including professional necessity and purchase of essentials for family members.
On the other hand, women usually stay at home and some younger ones go outside for different purposes, he noted
"Women, by nature, have better immune system than their male counterparts," said Mr Khaleque.
The physician also underscored the need for further research in this connection.
In its regular online briefing, the DGHS additional director general Prof Dr Nasima Sultana said 13,548 samples were collected on Thursday, of which 12,889 samples were tested.
"In the last 24-hours, 39 more died and 2,733 people were tested positive, which brought the total tally of confirmed cases to 196,323 in the country," she told reporters.
Prof Sultana, who oversees administrative affairs, also said the detection rate in 24-hour period is 21.20 per cent and the overall rate is 19.76 per cent.
According to the official, 1,940 people recovered from the disease taking the total figure to 106,963.
The overall rate of recovery against infections is 54.48 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.27 per cent.
Among the new deceased, one was below 10 years, another under 11-20, two within 31-40 years, three within 41-50 years, 12 between 51-60 years, 15 within 61-70 years, four within 71-80 years and one was between 81-90 years.
Among the latest victims, 18 were from Dhaka, six from Chattogram, one from Rajshahi, six from Khulna, three from Sylhet and three from Barishal and two from Rangpur divisions.
Currently, 8o laboratories are equipped with coronavirus test facilities, with Popular Diagnostic Centre being the latest one, she said.
Globally, over 13.7 million people were infected with the deadly virus and 587,675 died until Thursday 6:00 pm, according to data available with Worldometer, an information portal.
According to it, Bangladesh is the 17th worst victim in the list, in which the US tops with more than 3.6 million cases and 140,185 deaths.
saif.febd@gmail.com