COVID-19 outbreak in BD: Recovery rate continues to be very low.

NEWS DESK

The rate of recovery of COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh continues to be very low, compared to that of the global one as well as some other South Asian Countries.

Of the total 4998 people infected until Saturday with the deadly novel coronavirus, only 113 could make recovery, representing only 2.26 per cent of COVID patients.

The global recovery rate is 29 per cent and in neighbouring India it is 22 per cent.

However, the rate of death of COVID patients in Bangladesh is also much lower--2.26 per cent--- than the global average of 7.0 per cent and 3.12 per cent in India.

Experts attribute the lower recovery rate in Bangladesh to non-availability of proper treatment in most of the designated hospitals. There exists a gap between what the health officials claim and the ground realities as far as COVID-19 treatment is concerned.

Meanwhile, the number of people infected with coronavirus recorded further rise with none making recovery during the last 24 hours, ending at 8 a.m Saturday.

A total of 309 more people tested positive.

With the latest infections, the overall tally of confirmed cases stood at 4,998, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). However, Prof. Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (admn) of DGHS, informed the media that results of tests from a number of centres did not reach the directorate on Friday.

During the period under review, nine more people died of COVID-19 and total deaths reached 140, Prof Nasima said.

"A total of 3,337 samples were tested in 23 PCR labs across the country on Friday", she said.

Dr Sultana said among the nine deceased, five were female.

Three victims were from Dhaka and the rest from Narayanganj, Joypurhat, Tangail, Madaripur and Mymensingh districts.

"Seven of them were over 70 years old, one was above 60 and another was aged between 51 and 60," she cited.

Responding to recent media reports over scarcity of oxygen cylinders, the key medical tool for treating corona patients, at hospitals, she termed the information incorrect.

"There is no shortage of oxygen cylinders at dedicated hospitals and isolation units," the DGHS official said, claiming that the information disclosed by a section of the media is old and outdated.

In fact, there are enough oxygen cylinders at all hospitals across the country. Even 10,393 cylinders are available at upazila level, she claimed.

There are 13,745 oxygen cylinders available in eight divisions, excepting medical colleges and specialised hospitals, she went on to say.

Dr Sultana said the government is importing another 3,050 cylinders considering the mounting pressure of COVID-19 patients. "Those will be arriving the country soon."

The latest DGHS data show Dhaka district has topped the chart with 2,299 infections followed by Narayanganj (566), Gazipur (294), Kishoreganj (180) and Narsingdi (141).

The deadly coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019.

The superbug quickly spread all over the world, claiming nearly 0.2 million lives, mostly in the European countries and the USA.

The real-time data of Worldometers until 6:00 pm on Saturday show more than 2.8 million people were diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus.

Of the cases, 197,859 died of the pneumonia-like respiratory disease.

The United States has been reported as the worst victim of the viral attack with the highest infections (925,758) and death cases (52217) thus far.

In terms of death, other worst-hit countries are Italy (25,969) followed by Spain (22,524), France (22,245) and the United Kingdom (19,506).