The COVID-19 pandemic has turned severe in 22 districts, where nearly 50 per cent of the total infections was reported, officials and physicians have said.
In terms of fatalities, the districts accounted for more than 70 per cent of the deaths, meaning the districts are on the verge of entering into fresh hotspots, they said.
With 3,099 more people were tested positive in the last 24 hours ending on Monday, the tally of confirmed cases rose to 186,894.
On the other hand, death toll reached 2,391 with 39 more patients succumbed during the same period, according to the state-run Directorate General of Health Services or DGHS.
Of the total infections, 85,637 were reported in the 21 districts - Dhaka (27,335), Chattogram (10,242), Narayanganj (5,562), Cumilla (4,167), Gazipur (3,864), Bagura (3,608), Sylhet (3,070), Khulna (3,030), Cox's Bazar (2,687), Noakhali (2,541), Munshiganj (2,496), Faridpur (2,444), Mymensingh (2,050), Kishoreganj (1,739), Barishal (1,686), Narsingdi (1,592), Rajshahi (1,469), Chandpur (1,285), Sunamganj (1,170), Laxmipur (1,089) and Feni (1,004).
Infections keep spreading fast in 10 other districts, where the number of confirmed cases is nearing the 1,000-mark, considered by healthcare experts red zones.
According to the healthcare experts, hotspots are classified to focus attention on the districts/cities reporting large number of cases or high growth rate.
The experts said the government, to avoid the risk of quick viral spread, should immediately demarcate the 22 districts as red zones with strict measures to implement hard lockdown there.
Seeking anonymity, a DGHS official said that they consider areas with more than 1,000 infections to be red zones or hotspots. With that estimates, 22 districts have already crossed the danger level.
"Nearly half the infections are concentrated in these hotspots. The most dangerous part is that some 10 other districts are close to the mark," he added.
However, additional director general (administration) of the DGHS Prof Dr Nasima Sultana on Monday said that a total of 12,423 samples have been tested in 77 labs across the country since Sunday morning.
With the tests, a total of 952,947 samples have so far been tested across the country.
Of the latest tests, 3,099 samples were found COVID-19 positive along with 39 more deaths recorded across the country in the last 24 hours, she said.
With the latest numbers, the overall tally of confirmed cases and deaths rose to 186,894 and 2,391 respectively, she said.
At the same time, the DGHS official said 4,070 patients recovered, bringing the total tally of recovery to 98,311 and the recovery rate to 52 per cent.
Convenor of Doctors Platform for People Health Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub said the pandemic situation in the 22 hotspot districts having more than 1,000 infections should be a matter of serious concern for the policymakers.
The government should immediately demarcate these risky areas and impose lockdown there strictly to stem the highly infectious pathogen from spreading.
Globally, over 13.0 million people were infected with the novel coronavirus. Of them, 572,272 died until 6:30 pm, according to Worldmeter data.
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