Dhaka, Rangamati designated Covid 'red zone' as cases rise

Covid-19. Boy wearing mask

Dhaka, Jan 12 -- Health authorities have designated Dhaka and Rangamati as ‘red zones’, following an exponential rise in Covid infections in the two districts.

The infection rate in Dhaka and Rangamati is 10-19%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

Besides, six districts, including Jashore, have been marked as ‘yellow zones’ or at "mid-level risk".

The five other districts are Rajshahi, Rangpur, Natore, Lalmonirhat and Dinajpur. The infection rate in these districts is between 5% and 9%, the directorate said on Wednesday.

On the other hand, 54 districts have been marked as 'green zones' while the sample test rate of Panchagarh and Bandarban districts are poor.

The districts under green zones are Chattogram, Bogura, Gazipur, Cox’s Bazar, Kushtia, Nilphamari, Barguna, Sherpur, Meherpur, Thakurgaon, Feni, Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Pirojpur, Bagerhat, Narayanganj, Naogaon, Jhalakathi, Khulna, Patuakhali, Kurigram, Joypurhat, Faridpur and Barishal.

Chuadanga, Manikganj, Chandpur, Laxmipur, Mymensingh, Rajbari, Sylhet, Satkhira, Gopalganj, Moulvibazar, Noakhali, Kishoreganj, Gaibandha, Shariatpur, Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Khagrachhari, Jhenaidah, Pabna, Madaripur, Magura, Sunamganj, Chapainawabganj, Cumilla, Netrakona, Bhola, Tangail, Habiganj, Brahmanbaria and Narail are the other districts.

DGHS has, in fact, divided the districts of the country as red, yellow and green zones, considering the infection rate of Covid.

On Monday, the government imposed restrictions on public movement and other activities like operations of public transport vehicles at half their capacities amid the growing concern over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The restrictions will be effective January 13 until further notice.

Covid situation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is seeing a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases as 2,458 more infections along with two more deaths were reported in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.

With the fresh cases reported after testing 27,709 samples, the daily positivity rate jumped again to 8.97 percent from Monday’s 8.53 percent during the period, according to the directorate.

The country last logged 2,588 cases on September 9 last year along with 58 deaths in 24 hours.

Bangladesh is currently seeing a surge of Covid-19 cases as health authorities logged 10,392 infections in the last 10 days since January 1.

The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,107 while the caseload mounted to 15,98,389 on Tuesday.

The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.76 percent during the period.

The recovery rate kept declining to 97.06 percent with the recovery of 274 more patients during the 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 30 with the detection of nine more cases on Monday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.

On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.

The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.

Bangladesh logged the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 last year. - UNB