COVID-19 recovery rate at 40% in Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Wednesday registered 3,462 new cases positive for coronavirus, taking the total count to 122,660 since the first case was detected in early March.

Out of total infections, more than 49,500 patients have so far recovered with some 2,000 fresh recoveries in the past 24 hours.

The recovery rate now stands at 40.49%, according to the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the country witnessed the deaths of 37 people from COVID-19, virus-caused disease, rising the tally to 1,582, Nasima Sultana, a director general at the Health Ministry, told a regular online news conference.

The South Asian country with a population of 165 million, tested some 16,500 samples in the past 24 hours. The total count of tests neared 660,500 with a 21.07% infection rate.

The death rate now stands at 1.28%, according to the official.

Since June, Bangladesh has been experiencing a spike in cases after the government lifted poorly-managed restrictions under “general holiday” regulations on May 31. It had been imposed in March 26.

The government, however, completed the necessary work to incorporate a gradual, color-coded zone-based lockdown to stop the infection chain.

Red will be high-risk zones, with yellow marking moderate, and green low risk areas.

On Wednesday, a general holiday for all public and private offices was announced in three more districts, totaling 13, under the red zone cover considering high-risk of coronavirus infection in these areas.