Infections show no signs of let-up

Some 1,472 more people were tested coronavirus positive across the country in the last 24 hours, according to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The single-day infections came from a total 13,227 samples tested in 109 PCR labs during the same period and the infection rate was 11.13 per cent.

With the latest statistics, the entire caseload reached around 0.38 million as of October 12, 2020.
At the same time, 31 more patients succumbed to the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The latest fatalities took the toll to 5,555 in Bangladesh, which now stands eighth in terms of deaths in Asia.
Although the number of infections kept falling in the last couple of months, the rate is still above the danger level,
according to healthcare professionals. This has led to the gradual rush to seek care as over 80 per cent of the hospital beds remained empty.
According to the DGHS data, there were 11,687 dedicated beds for coronavirus patients across the country till to date, but only 2,447 of them were occupied by the patients.
The DGHS statement issued on Monday said a total of 13,227 samples have been tested across the country since last morning.
With the tests, a total of 2,084,222 samples have so far been tested in the country and the overall infection rate was as high as 18.22 per cent and it is the second-highest in South Asia, after India.
Of the tests, some 1,488 samples were found COVID-19 positive along with 31 more deaths recorded during the period, it said.
With the numbers, the overall tally of confirmed cases and deaths rose to 379,738 and 5,555 respectively, the statement signed by DGHS additional director general Dr Nasima Sultana said.
Twenty two of the latest deaths were recorded in Dhaka division, followed by four in Chattogram, two in Khulna, two each in Sylhet and Mymensingh and one in Rangpur division, it said.
At the same time, the DGHS data also mentioned that 1,531 patients recovered, taking the entire tally of recovery to 294,391. The recovery rate rose to 77.52 per cent.
Globally, more than 37.8 million people were infected by the novel pathogen and 1,062,239 died until Monday 5:20 pm, according to Worldometer data.
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