Bangladesh sees rise in virus fatalities with new cases of Indian variant

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - One month ahead of placing its national budget for the next fiscal year with a special allotment for addressing COVID-19, Bangladesh on Saturday marked a rise in coronavirus casualties, according to the latest update of the Health Ministry.

The South Asian delta nation of 165 million people recorded 38 more fatalities in the last 24 hours, almost doubling compared to the last two days.

Single-day virus-related deaths were 22 on Friday, rising from 17 on Thursday.

The recorded overnight virus caseload was 1,043 on Saturday, raising the total cases to 797,386 while the total death toll stands at 12,549.

The infection rate stands at 7.91% against 13,184 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.

The overall infection rate in the country is currently at 13.48% with the mortality rate remaining at 1.57%.

Bangladesh has been observing a nationwide lockdown for the second phase since April 5 this year while the country imposed a two-month-long countrywide lockdown in March last year after the virus was first detected on March 8 and the first death on March 17 in the same year.

In the wake of the pandemic, Bangladesh closed all educational institutions on March 17 last year and extended the embargo dozens of times with the latest till June 13 this year.

- Indian variant

Meanwhile, the health authorities of Bangladesh have detected the Indian variant of coronavirus in the samples of 13 more people.

Seven of them were from the country's northern border district of Chapainawabganj though they did not visit India recently.

Bangladesh closed its border with India after the rapid escalation of the virus situation in the closest neighbor that has more than 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of common land boundary with Bangladesh.

Since Bangladesh detected the first Indian variant on May 8, the border restrictions have been extended several times.

Mass people as well as experts at different platforms have urged authorities to allot a special budget to inoculate people to contain the spread of the virus.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Dr. Md. Shahed Rafi Pavel, the president of a local medical doctors' body, said the nationwide lockdown should continue for at least one more month.

"As it is now clear that this pandemic needs more time to contain, the government must have a long-term planning and special allotment in the national budget."