April is the cruellest month for Bangladesh. 2,404 COVID-19 deaths, highest in a month

April has proved to the cruellest month for Bangladesh in terms of deaths from COVID-19 with the government reporting 2,404 deaths, the most in a month since the coronavirus outbreak began over a year ago.

On an average, Bangladesh recorded 80 fatalities a day in April.

The grim record comes amid a lockdown imposed on Apr 5 and extended to May 5 in a bid to curb a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in the second wave of infections.

On Saturday, the Directorate General of Health Services reported 60 new fatalities from the coronavirus in a day, taking the death toll to 11,510.

In the 24-hour count, the caseload rose by 1,452, the lowest daily tally since Mar 14, to 760,584.

After recording more than 1,000 deaths for three consecutive months in June, July and August last year, the fatality rate gradually dropped to 281 in February this year before rising to the record level.

It took more than two months to record 1,000 deaths before April, the slowest rise in the toll after the first wave.

In the week to Saturday, the number of deaths dropped by 16.59 percent while the positivity rate among suspected patients dropped by 33.02 percent in an apparent outcome of the harsh lockdown measures.

The number of tests, however, also dropped by 6.75 percent.

The death toll from the coronavirus disease crossed 100 on Apr 20 last year, over a month after the first fatality was reported in the country. It reached 500 on May 25.

It took 16 days for the next 500 deaths before the toll began jumping by huge numbers in the first wave.

During the second wave, a study revealed that the more contagious and deadly coronavirus variant, first detected in South Africa, began dominating the cases in mid-March this year.

Although the number of cases and deaths are dropping now, Professor Dr Nazrul Islam, a member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19, thinks research is needed to determine whether the lockdown measures pushed the rate down.

The positivity rate was very low in December and January during winter when the economy was almost fully open amid fears of a second wave.

“We still don’t know why the cases crept up when they were not supposed to," he said, "and why they remained low when the situation was supposed to worsen."

Pointing out that the death rate was still high, Dr Mushtuq Husain, a former chief scientific officer at the government’s disease control agency IEDCR, said it would be better for the government to keep the restrictions as long as possible by striking a balance to save livelihoods as well.