Covid-19: Sudden spike in recovery rate
A shift in hospital discharge criteria is one of the contributors to the surge in recoveries
The country witnessed a spike, overnight, in the number of people who have officially recovered from Covid-19.
According to the health directorate's data, the recovery rate increased by more than 16 percent to 37.5 percent on Monday. It was 21.4 percent on Sunday.
"People who recovered today were infected three weeks ago. Their cases and symptoms were mild," said Dr ASM Alamgir, principal scientific officer of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
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"If you look back, the infection rate of three weeks ago was high," he added.
Dr Alamgir also said a change in discharge criteria for Covid-19 patients from hospital has contributed to the surge, too.
He said hospitals used to release patients if they came back with two Covid-19-negative test results, consecutively.
"However, now if a person does not have a fever for three days in a row, during the first ten days of infection, he or she is released into home-quarantine for seven days," said the doctor.
In the meantime, the health directorate, in its daily online bulletin, on Monday, said the virus has claimed 38 more lives while it has newly-infected 3,099 individuals in the last 24 hours.
With this, the death toll from Covid-19 rose to 1,209 and total cases to 90,619 across the country.
"Among the deceased, 32 were men and six were women. Of them, 18 were from Dhaka division, 12 from Chattogram, six from Khulna, one from Rangpur, and one from Barishal," said Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the health directorate.
She said, 25 patients died at different hospitals while 11 died at their respective homes. Two were diagnosed with the virus posthumously.
Till date, 37.55 percent of Covid-19 patients – both symptomatic and asymptomatic – have recovered while 1.33 percent have died, she added.
The country tested 15,038 people in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am Monday. The country recorded its first novel coronavirus case on March 8. Within a few weeks, the number saw a sharp increase.
