Covid-19 takes 27 more lives, infects 835 in last 24hrs

Bangladesh recorded 24 more deaths and 835 new cases caused by the lethal coronavirus from different parts of the country including the capital Dhaka in the last 24 hours ending 8:00am on Sunday.

With the updated figures, the total number of deaths rose to 7,626 while the total number of infections caused by the virus stood at 5, 16,019, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a press release this afternoon.

Some 10,925 samples were tested at different government authorised laboratories across the country in the last 24 hours and 835 samples were found positive, the press release said.

At the same period, as many as 978 people who were either undergoing treatment at houses or hospitals were declared free from the infections, reaching the total number of recovery 4, 60,598, the DGHS said.

The DGHS data shows the recovery rate 89.26 percent while the infection rate 7.64 percent at the same time.

Since the outbreak of the virus in China in December 2019, the first case of coronavirus was reported in Bangladesh on March 8 last year while the first death case was recorded just after its 10 days of the same month.

According to the worldometers, 18, 44, 792 people have so far died while 8, 50, 31,519 people have been infected with the virus worldwide.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is transferring pre-booking money to neighboring India for the Oxford-AstraZeneca developed Covid-19 vaccine.

More than Tk600 crore will be deposited in banks on Sunday to purchase the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII).

The institute will provide a bank guarantee against the deposit, said an official the DGHS.

DGHS Director General ABM Khurshid Alam informed reporters that the first consignment worth Tk50 lakh would be sent tomorrow to get the vaccine.

In the meantime, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) of India on Sunday approved two vaccines developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech for public use.