Bangladesh reports one COVID death, eight more cases

The tally of deaths climbs to 25 this year

Another individual diagnosed with COVID-19 has died over the past 24 hours, taking the tally of deaths due to the disease to 25 this year.

On Tuesday, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the deceased was a man, aged between 61 and 70 years. He was a resident of the Khulna Division and died while undergoing treatment at a public hospital.

In the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday morning, eight new patients were identified from 234 samples tested nationwide. The detection rate against the sample test stood at 3.42 percent.

Of these, three were diagnosed with the disease from 150 samples tested in the Dhaka Division, four from 75 samples tested in Chattogram, and one from nine tests in Mymensingh.

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Bangladesh has conducted over 15.7 million tests, reporting more than 2.05 million cases and 29,523 deaths.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, 7,559 people died from COVID-19 in Bangladesh. The highest number of fatalities occurred in 2021, with 20,513 deaths. In 2022, there were 1,368 deaths, followed by 37 in 2023, and 22 so far in 2024.

The DGHS has issued fresh advisories following a rise in cases of a new sub-variant of the virus in India and other neighbouring countries.

The agency has urged people to avoid non-essential travel to affected countries and instructed all land and airports to step up health screening and surveillance measures.