Woman dies of COVID in Chattogram as six new cases detected

The death toll from the disease rises to two as new cases are identified in the city

A 71-year-old woman has died from COVID-19 in Chattogram, bringing the district’s death toll to two this year, as six more cases of infection are identified.

Fazilatunnesa, a resident of the city’s Baklia area, died while in intensive care at Chattogram General Hospital on Friday, civil surgeon Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said on Saturday.

“She had been suffering from non-small cell cancer in her left lung and was admitted to the hospital three days earlier after testing positive for COVID-19,” he said.

The first virus-related fatality was Shafiul Islam, 75, from Jorarganj in Mirsharai, who died on Jun 16. He had been suffering from post-operative complications and kidney disease, according to the district civil surgeon’s office.

As many as six new coronavirus cases were detected in the last 24 hours in the city, according to the latest report by the authorities.

A total of 71 samples were tested during this period across six public and private hospitals and diagnostic centres.

With these, the total number of confirmed cases in Chattogram district stands at 62 -- 55 of them from the city and the remaining seven from different Upazilas.

Chattogram reported its first case on Jun 10, although health authorities later confirmed that two others had tested positive three days prior to that.

Among the confirmed cases so far, 33 are men, 26 women, and one is a child.

Chattogram General Hospital was designated for COVID-19 treatment at the onset of the outbreak. Initially, it had ICU beds but lacked ventilators. Later, three ventilators were installed to enable a five-bed ICU unit dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients.