Covid cases rising

The number of Covid-19 patients has been rising for 10 straight days with the health directorate reporting 71 new cases yesterday.

On June 2, the number of new cases declined to 22 from 34 the previous day.

Since then, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported an increasing number of new cases daily.

The positivity rate has also increased in the meantime.

On June 2, the positivity rate was 0.42 percent and it reached 1.14 percent yesterday.

No death, however, was reported after May 30 when one Covid-19 patient died.

"It has been a trend that a new wave emerges every three months. We saw that the last wave ended in March this year. So a new wave is obvious, though it may not be so serious," Mushtuq Hussain, consultant at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told The Daily Star yesterday.

Under this circumstances, he stressed on reminding people to maintain health safety guidelines including wearing masks outside home, wash hands frequently and take at least double dose Covid-19 shots.

The first cases of Covid-19 were reported on March 8, 2020. Since then, more than 19.54 lakh confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported as of yesterday.

The virus claimed at least 29,131 lives in Bangladesh.

Covid-19 cases have also been rising in neighbouring India and Pakistan.

In India, there has been around 92 percent rise in new cases over the last week until Friday while Pakistan saw 18 percent rise during that period.