Staff Reporter:
After a gap of two months, Bangladesh recorded two Covid-19 deaths in the 24 hours prior to Friday morning. The government is currently giving booster doses of the vaccine to contain the spread of the virus.
The deaths were reported in Dhaka division with 84 fresh cases across the country during the same time, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a bulletin.
Previously, six people died of Covid since January this year and the last death was reported on March 28, when the test positivity rate was 0.37%. The rate rose to 5.99% as 1,515 samples were tested in the 24 hours till Friday morning.
With the new deaths, Bangladesh’s Covid deaths have reached 29,448 and caseload to 2,039,506 since March 28, 2020. Moreover, the recovery rate stands at 98.37% and the death rate at 1.44%.
The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28, 2021, and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.
Amid fear of fresh spread, the government resumed administering booster doses of the Covid vaccine on Wednesday. The decision came after the government procured three million doses of the variant-containing vaccines (VCV) under the Covax facility.
As per the guidelines issued by the DGHS, individuals aged 18 and above are eligible to receive the vaccines.
Priority for the fourth dose or second booster shot will be given to individuals aged 60 years and above, those over 18 years with chronic medical conditions, immunocompromised individuals, expecting mothers, and frontline workers.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said 80-90% of the people have taken the Covid vaccine.
“The outbreak of the virus has increased a little in the past few days, but the health authorities are on alert. There is no reason to panic,” he said at a program in Cox’s Bazar.
On March 1, the administration of Covid booster doses was suspended due to insufficient vaccination coverage.
