Covid-19: Bangladesh records 187 more deaths amid relaxed lockdown
The daily death toll slightly fell on Friday after remaining above the 200-mark for the fifth consecutive days
Bangladesh registered 187 more Covid-19 related fatalities and 12,148 new cases in the past 24 hours until Friday morning and movement restrictions have been eased eight days for Eid, until 23 July.
The daily death toll fell slightly on Friday after remaining above 200 for the fifth consecutive day ending yesterday.
However, the positivity rate of the disease saw an upward trend, rising to 28.96% from 27.23% a day ago, with a total caseload of 10,83,922.
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The total positivity rate now stands at 15.08% while the death rate remains unchanged at 1.61%. Thus far, 17,465 people have died of the disease in the country.
July has already broken the record monthly fatality count of April, which was the deadliest month this year until now.
Public health experts fear the daily fatality counts are less likely to go down now. Rather, with movement restrictions eased for Eid, deaths may even go up.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has expressed the same concerns, that the lockdown being eased for eight days before Eid-ul-Adha, could trigger a spike in coronavirus cases across the country.
"There will be no way to control the infection rate if health guidelines are not followed properly during the eight days of reopening public transport, shopping malls, and sacrificial animal markets ahead of Eid," said DGHS Spokesperson Dr Robed Amin, in a Covid-19 bulletin on Wednesday.
On the first day of lockdown relaxation, there was heavy traffic and congestion in most areas and intersections of Dhaka.
Pedestrians, personal cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, and other vehicles swelled the streets of the capital on Thursday morning.
According to the DGHS press release, across the country, 627 labs tested 41,947 samples.
Dhaka division reported the highest of daily deaths, 68 in 24 hours, followed by 39 deaths in Khulna, 36 in Chattogram, 14 in Rajshahi, nine in Sylhet, eight in Barishal, seven in Mymensingh, and six in Rangpur.
8,536 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, with an 84,36% recovery rate.
Of the latest victims, 113 were men, and 74 were women.
In the eight days that the lockdown is being relaxed, long-haul buses, trains, and domestic flights will transport passengers, and shopping malls will remain open on a limited scale. Cattle markets will also be set up with virus safety measures in place.
