Coronavirus crisis escalates to 38 districts, including 75 neighbourhoods in Dhaka city

The novel coronavirus has spread to 38 of the 64 districts in Bangladesh in 35 days after the first known case was confirmed.

Capital Dhaka is the worst hit with 313 people known to have been infected in 75 neighbourhoods until Sunday morning. Other parts of Dhaka district recorded 22 cases.

Dhaka district accounts for 54 per cent of the total 621 confirmed COVID-19 patients in the country, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research or IEDCR.

As much as 35 per cent others are from Dhaka division, mostly from the completely locked down Narayanganj district.

Narayanganj, the industrial hub, is being considered the epicentre of the outbreak with 107 patients, including the first one reported on March 08, and the civil surgeon himself.

In Dhaka and Narayanganj districts, the number of known COVID-19 patients is 442 or over 71 per cent of the total in the country.

“The patients reported in other districts in the past one week travelled from Dhaka or Narayanganj,” said Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director at the government’s disease control agency IEDCR, urging members of the public not to travel amid the shutdown.

The tally of infections jumped after another 139 new cases were detected in the 24 hours to 8:00am on Sunday.

In Dhaka division, the authorities found 523 infections, which is more than 85 per cent of the total.

Chattogram division accounts for 6.0 per cent of the COVID-19 patients, including 12 in Chattogram district, nine in Cumilla, and six each in Brahmanbaria and Chandpur.

The eight districts in Rajshahi division have yet to report coronavirus infections.

66 cases, 08 deaths in Old Dhaka

A total of 66 people have been reported infected with coronavirus in Old Dhaka areas and eight of them have died.

All areas under the 10 police stations in Old Dhaka, apart from Shyampur, reported cases of COVID-19 infection.

Among these, Chawkbazar and Bangshal topped the number of the infected, with 11 cases in each area, while 10 cases have been registered in Wari and Hazaribagh each.

Among the deceased, three were from Sutrapur, two from Chawkbazar and one from Wari, Lalbagh and Gendaria each.

More than 300 buildings have been locked down in Old Dhaka to stem the spread of the virus, the police said. “Some more cases were identified on Sunday,” a police official said.

Bangshal Police OC Shahin Fakir told the news agency that a total of 11 people were infected in Ali Nekir Deuri where 22 buildings had been locked down. “A person was identified with infection even on Sunday,” he added.

Chawkbazar Police OC Moudut Hawlader said 11 others were infected in Khazed Dewan Lane, Urdu Road and Water Wask Road; among them two died while three others recovered.

The police confirmed 10 cases of infection in the Wari area with one fatality, a further 10 cases in Hazaribagh with no deaths so far, five cases in Kotwali and four suspected infections - all of whom are in isolation.

Sutrapur registered the highest number of deaths with three in Old Dhaka, though the number of infections was seven.

Mirpur Police OC Mostafizur Rahman said a building was locked down in Shewrapara following the news of infection of a broadcast journalist. Eight others have been identified infected in the area.