Grim milestone of 100 deaths

The country's Covid-19 death toll hit 101 after the authorities reported that 10 more patients died in 24 hours till 2:30pm yesterday.

A record 492 people tested positive for coronavirus over the same period, taking the total number of detected cases to 2,948, shows data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The previous highest number of detected cases for a single day was 312 on Sunday.

A total of 2,779 samples were tested in those 24 hours in 19 labs across the country. The number of tests is 5.5 percent higher than that of the previous day, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general (admin) at the DGHS, said at a daily bulletin on the coronavirus situation yesterday.

With it, the total number of Covid-19 tests carried out in the country stood at 26,604.

Meanwhile, 10 more patients recovered in those 24 hours, which brought the total number of cases of recovery to 85, she said.

Prof Nasima said eight of the 10 deceased were males. Five of the 10 were from Dhaka, four from Narayanganj and one from Narsingdi.

Four of the deceased were aged above 60, four between 51 and 60 while two between 41 and 50, she said.

Among the newly-infected patients, 19.5 percent are from Gazipur, 13.5 percent from Kishoreganj and six percent from Narsingdi.

"We see Gazipur as an area with increasing number of cases. Many of the newly infected ones in other districts went there from Dhaka city and Narayanganj," Dr Nasima said.

ACTION IF MISINFORMATION SPREAD

In the bulletin, which was aired online, Brig Gen Dr Md Shahidullah, director of the Central Medical Stores Depot, warned of taking action against anyone spreading misinformation on the standard of protective gears the CMSD supplies to hospitals.

"The standard and the prices of all PPEs received by CMSD are fixed by the drug administration. Before those are received, a technical committee of the DGHS examined them. During the distribution, another committee of the CMSD also examines the quality," Shahidullah said.

The CMSD follows the Public Procurement Rule 2008 for this, he said.

He said 70 percent of the protective gowns are produced and supplied by local companies. "These are made as per the DGDA'S [Directorate General of Drug Administration] guideline."

Mentioning that there is shortage of N95 masks globally, he said, "No company in Bangladesh can make it. We depend on import and it takes four to seven weeks to reach the country through the sea channel. Via air, it takes 15 days."

"Currently we have one lakh such masks in our stock."

So far, the CMSD has bought protective gears worth Tk 176 core and was distributing gears worth Tk 14.67 lakh every day, he added.

The CMSD, which is under the DGHS, is determined to take legal measures against any person or institution trying to spread rumours regarding its activities and equipment supplied by it, he warned.