As the Delta variant of Covid-19 engulfed the country, Bangladesh recorded 239 more deaths caused by the virus in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
Besides, 15,271 new people came out Covid positive during the period after the test of 52,282 samples, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases took the country’s Covid death tally to 20,255 today while the caseload to 1,226,253.
The country has been seeing nearly 200 deaths a day for the past two weeks, shattering the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day.
Meanwhile, the daily test-positivity rate declined slightly to 29.21% from Wednesday’s 30.12% while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.65 % during the period, said the DGHS.
The recovery rate too increased slightly to 85.64 % from Tuesday’s 85.54 % with the recovery of more 14,336 patients.
Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected
Dhaka, the worst hit division, recorded the highest 76 deaths, followed by 57 in Chattogram, 45 in Khulna, 14 each in Barishal and Sylhet, 13 in Rajshahi, 11 in Rangpur, nine Mymensingh divisions.
Of them, 123 were men and 116 women.
Among them, one was below 10 years old; three were between 11-20, 14 between 21-30; 15 between 31-40; 26 between 41-50; 57 between 51-60, 65 between 61-70; 43 between 71-80, 14 between 81-90, and one between 91-100 years of age.
Eligible age to receive vaccine now 25
The government has lowered the minimum age limit for taking Covid-19 jabs to 25 from 30 years in a bid to give a boost to the lagging vaccination rates in the country.
From now on, people aged 25 and above are eligible to register for taking vaccines through Surrokha app, said sources at the health directorate on Thursday.
The official app, launched by the ICT Division of Bangladesh for providing the facility to register for vaccination, also came up with the information.
Earlier on July 19, the government lowered the age limit from 35 to 30 for vaccine registration.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on July 15 said everyone above 18 years of age will gradually be vaccinated in Bangladesh.
“Arrangements are being made to gradually bring all citizens above 18 years under the Covid-19 vaccination programme in order to revive the country’s education system,” he said.
Source: United News of Bangladesh