Covid-19 cases hit 3.12 lakh, deaths 4,281
Health Minister Zahid Maleque says Russia will allow Bangladesh to produce the vaccine if possible
Bangladesh confirmed 33 more deaths from the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours till Monday 8am.
The total fatalities from the virus has reached 4,281 and the death rate stands at 1.37 percent, a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest numbers.
In the last 24 hours, 2,174 people tested Covid-19 positive, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 312,996.
The daily infection rate is 17.46 percent, although the overall infection rate in the country stands at 20.19 percent.
A total of 2,980 patients were declared free of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The total number of recovered patients stands at 2,08,887 and the recovery rate has risen to 65.46 percent.
In the last 24 hours, 12,454 samples were tested in 92 labs across the country. So far 15,50,203 samples have been tested.
Among the deceased, 29 were men and four women. And 21 of them were from Dhaka division, five from Rajshahi, four from Chattogram, one each from Khulna, Rangpur and Barishal.
So far, 3,364 men and 917 women have died from Covid-19 across the country.
Of them, 2,069 were from Dhaka division, 932 from Chattogram, 356 from Khulna, 287 from Rajshahi, 191 from Sylhet, 190 from Rangpur, 166 from Barishal and 90 from Mymensingh.
Bangladesh confirmed the first Covid-19 cases on March 8, and first death on March 18.
'Russia likely to allow Bangladesh to produce vaccine'
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday said that Russia will allow Bangladesh to produce the coronavirus vaccine if there is an opportunity.
"Russia is also interested in providing the vaccine on a Government-to-Government (G2G) basis," he made the remark during a press briefing at the Secretariat.
The health minister said that Russia has already written to Bangladesh about its capabilities. The Bangladesh government has also talked about this with the ambassador of the country.
He further said that official talks have also been held with South Korea regarding the coronavirus situation.
"The South Korean government will provide two PCR machines and Antigen test kits worth $0.8 million for testing the dreaded virus," he said.