The spike of new cases on

The country continues to see a record surge in coronavirus infections every day with 790 new cases reported yesterday, taking the total to 11,719.

Besides, three more people died in the 24 hours till 2:30pm yesterday. With it, the death toll hit 186, Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director general at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said in a bulletin.

No new patient, however, recovered during those 24 hours, keeping the number of recovered cases at 1,403.

The authorities had reported 688 and 786 cases on Monday and Tuesday respectively. The first three cases were reported on March 8.

Of the three deceased, two were males, two were above 60 while the other was aged between 41 to 50, Prof Nasima said, adding that two of the deceased were from Dhaka.

Of all those who have died of Covid-19 so far in the country, 73 percent were male and 27 percent female, shows data from the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR).

Forty-two percent of the deaths -- the highest -- were of patients above 60, while 27 percent were aged between 51 and 60, some 19 percent between 41 and 50, seven percent between 31 and 40, three percent between 21 and 30 and the other two percent under 10.

No patient from the 11-20 age group, which constitutes almost eight percent of all Covid-19 cases, has died, according to the data.

In the 24 hours till 2:30pm yesterday, some 6,241 individuals' samples were tested. So far, all the 33 Covid-19 testing labs across the country have tested 99,592 individuals' samples in total.

Of all the infected people, 68 percent were male and 32 percent female.

Dhaka continued to be the worst-affected region, accounting for 58.65 percent of the new cases reported here. It is followed by Narayanganj at 9.15 percent.

Until May 1, 54.7 percent of all cases were reported in Dhaka city alone. Yesterday, it rose to 58.65 percent, shows the data.

Based on age-wise analysis of all Covid-19 patients, 21-30 seems to be the age group worst-affected by the outbreak. Twenty-six percent of all patients fall into this group, followed by 24 percent in the age group of 31-40.

Analysing the daily number of new Covid-19 infections and death cases, experts said many hidden cases were still out of the government radar and that more people were likely to get infected in the coming days.

"As the number of tests is inadequate, the number we are being informed of does not represent reality," Prof Ridwanur Rahman, a medicine and infectious disease specialist, told The Daily Star.

He thinks the country was heading towards herd immunity, thanks to lax detection, isolation and preventive measures in the fight against coronavirus.

Herd immunity is the indirect protection from a contagious infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection, according to Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (Gavi).

But experts said countries might see a high number of fatalities before it would be able to reach that point.

Another expert, Dr Mushtuq Hussain, consultant at the IEDCR, echoed the same.

"The virus is unknown. No unscientific measure will work. We have to face it scientifically," Dr Mushtuq told The Daily Star recently.

The government has recently announced that it would allow reopening of shopping malls from May 10 on a limited scale ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. The move, however, sparked concerns over the further spread of the virus.

On Tuesday, the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended reconsidering the decision and taking any decision based on opinions from epidemiologists.

"Reopening of shopping malls in any place means a kind of easing of the lockdown. Our position is that the transmission will increase if the lockdown is relaxed," Prof Mohammod Shahidullah, who is leading the committee, told The Daily Star.