Bangladesh: 46 new virus deaths, 3,471 infections

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Friday reported another 46 deaths related to the coronavirus infection, taking the countrywide death toll to 1,095.

It has been the highest daily death toll since the first death was recorded on March 18.

Among the deceased were 37 men and nine females and the death rate in infections is 1.34%, Nasima Sultana, a senior official at the Health Ministry, told an online news conference.

Meanwhile, the south Asian nation also recorded the largest single-day rise in cases over the past 24 hours with 3,471 infections, taking the tally to 81,523, she added.

Bangladesh recorded its first COVID-19 infection on March 8.

The Health Ministry has conducted 15,900 tests nationwide, a minuscule figure for the densely populated country of 165 million.

Meanwhile, 502 people made recovery in the past 24 hours after contracting coronavirus, taking the total count of recoveries to 17,249, according to the health official.

However, Bangladeshi authorities decided to reimpose a lockdown based on color-coded zones.

On May 31, the government lifted lockdown after more than two months to allow economic activity, but infections have since surged.

The 17-member national advisory committee consisting of experts and officials called for strict lockdown across larger areas based on virus infections to contain coronavirus in the country.

They advised the government that a “complete lockdown” be needed to ensure social isolation to curb the spread of the virus.

It also suggested to increase the hospital services for patients both COVID-19 positive and negative, high-flow oxygen therapy in all hospitals as an emergency measure, and set up a separate hospital for health workers, citing the intensified infection among health workers.

Meanwhile, the government proposed to allocate Bangladeshi takas 100 billion ($1.16 billion) in the national budget for 2020-21 fiscal year, which was placed at the parliament on Thursday, to fight the coronavirus.

On Thursday, the Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal set out taka 5.68 trillion ($66.3 billion) national budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including a larger budget for the health sector compared to previous fiscal years.