UNB, Rajshahi
At least eight Covid patients have died in the past 24 hours at Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH), health officials said on Saturday.
This is a steep fall from Friday’s highest single-day death toll of 16. However, the daily infection rate has surged past 51 percent in the district.
Hospital Director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani said that of the deceased, four were Covid-19 positive patients while four others showed symptoms of the virus.
“Of the deceased, five were from Chapainawabganj district, while the remaining three belonged to Rajshahi district,” he said.
With the fresh deaths, the district’s fatality count has reached 101 since May 24. Of them, 60 were confirmed Covid patients.
Meanwhile, the health authorities have detected 131 new cases after testing 256 samples in the past 24 hours in the district.
To stem the spread of coronavirus, the local administration has already enforced night time lockdown from 7 pm to 6 am.
It may also be mentioned here that authorities in many other districts have imposed strict restrictions for a week to contain the spread of Covid.
This was after the government recently empowered the district authorities to take a call on lockdown restrictions in their respective areas.
On May 31, Bangladesh Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said, “District administrations have been given the power to enforce lockdown in their respective areas if the Covid situation worsens there.”
Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in the districts bordering India, authorities have imposed lockdowns in Khulna, Satkhira and parts of Naogaon districts too.
On May 8, the Indian variant was detected in Bangladesh for the first time. All those who tested positive for Covid returned from the neighbouring country.
The “highly contagious” Indian Delta variant was first detected in October last year. The World Health Organization labelled it a “variant of concern.”
