Covid deaths hit 16-week high

Bangladesh registered five more Covid-linked deaths in 24 hours till Friday morning -- the highest in 16 weeks.

Over the 24-hour span, the country logged another 1,897 cases amid an upward trend of infections.

The fresh cases took the country's total caseload to 1,975,682  the total fatalities  to 29,154, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The daily case positivity rate slightly dropped to 15.31 per cent from Thursday’s 15.70 per cent as 12,403 samples were tested during the period, said the DGHS.

Of the deceased three were men and two women, all from Dhaka division.

On Thursday, the country recorded 2,183 cases with four deaths from Covid-19.

The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.48 per cent. The recovery rate declined to 96.56 per cent from Thursday’s 96.64 per cent as 248 patients recovered during this period.

In June, the country reported 18 Covid-linked deaths and 20,201 new cases, according to the DGHS.

The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.

On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest positivity rate of 33.37 per cent.

The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.