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Covid-19 claims 83 lives in a day, highest so far


Published : 12 Apr 2021 09:40 PM | Updated : 13 Apr 2021 12:20 AM

A record 83 people have died in the last 24 hours in the country due to Covid-19 infection while a total of 6,201 new patients have been identified, official sources said on Monday.

From 8 am on Sunday to 8 am on Monday, 34,096 people have been tested for Covid-19. Considering the sample test, the patient identification rate is 20.59 percent.

So far, a total of 6 lakh 91 thousand 957 people have been tested Covid-19 positive in the country, of which 9,822 died. A total of 5 lakh 81 thousand 113 people have recovered.

On March 8 last year, the government announced the first corona case in the country. Infections began to increase from mid-May last year. By the third week of August, the infection rate was over 20 percent. From then on the detection rate started to decrease.

During the three months, from June to August, the infection rate was acute. Occasionally there was a slight increase in November-December but otherwise the stats were downward sloping. 

The second wave of Covid started in March this year and is proving to be more intense than the first wave. The number of patients currently in treatment in the country were declining. However, since March, the number of patients undergoing treatment has been rising again.

Whether or not a country is in control of the infection is determined by some of the indicators set by the World Health Organization. One of them is the patient identification rate. 

If the patient identification rate is below 5 percent for more than two consecutive weeks, the situation is considered to be under control. From the beginning to the end of February this year, the detection rate was below 3 percent. Two months later, on March 10, the daily identification was released again. Since then, daily identification has been increasing.

Public health experts believe that the situation in the country is deteriorating. As the infection increased, the government issued a 16-point directive on March 29 with some restrictions. 

One of them is the use of a face mask when in public. But despite the alarming rise in infections, people are still reluctant to follow hygiene rules. Public health experts say there is no substitute for hygiene, including wearing a mask, to control infections.

An all-out lockdown is scheduled to start from 14th April in order to bring the situation under control.