Khulna has registered 46 fatalities from COVID-19 in a day, the highest on record, raising the toll in the administrative division to 1,214.
The division also logged 1,304 new cases over the same period, said Rasheda Sultana, a director of the Directorate General of Health Services.
The previous record for deaths in a day in the division was 39, registered on Jul 1, says a bdnews24.com report.
In the past 24 hours, Khulna and Kushtia logged 15 deaths each, Jashore seven, Jhenaidah, Magura and Chuadanga logged two each and Bagerhat, Satkhira and Meherpur one each.
The Khulna Division has registered 60,564 cases since the start of the pandemic, Sultana said. The division has also registered 1,214 deaths and 40,218 recoveries.
Asked why the division was suffering from such a high number of infections, Sultana said that the coronavirus was on the rise across Bangladesh, but Khulna had a higher number of deaths.
“Patients aren’t going to doctors in a timely manner because they mistake their condition for a standard fever or clogged nose,” she said.
The COVID-19 variant spreading in the area also makes it more difficult to detect because patients do not understand the extent of their illness, she said.
“Many more patients could be saved, particularly those from rural areas, if they sought treatment earlier.”
Of 436 coronavirus tests conducted in the Khulna district, 150 have come back positive, for a positivity rate of 34 per cent, said Dr Sheikh Sadia Monowara Usha, a medical officer from the Office of the Khulna Civil Surgeon.
“The number of cases had also surged around this same time last year,” Usha said.
“But the severity of the new variant means its effects have been fiercer.”
The true number of coronavirus cases is higher than the official count, she said.
“As seasonal colds and fevers are common around this time, people aren’t taking their symptoms seriously, which is helping to spread the coronavirus further.”
Most of those dying in hospital are aged between 60 and 70, she said. In many cases, these patients are beyond help by the time they are brought to the hospital.
Khulna has imposed several rounds of restrictions and lockdowns to try and curb the spread of the coronavirus, but it is having little effect as people are not following health protocols properly, said Khulna Civil Surgeon Dr Niaz Muhammad.
“People are still not wearing masks, despite the fines handed out by the mobile courts.”