Movement restrictions working

With the number of new cases and the daily positivity rate sliding, experts said the novel coronavirus transmission has started to slow down due to the ongoing restrictions on movement.

Yesterday, the health directorate reported 4,280 new cases against 28,408 tests.

On the previous day, 4,559 people tested positive, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data.

The positivity rate yesterday was 15.07, down from the previous day's 16.85 percent.

In the last six days, the highest positivity rate was 23.36 percent on Friday. Since then, it continued a downward trend.

With the latest figures, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 7,32,060.

Mushtuq Hussain, consultant of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told The Daily Star, "The daily data indicate the transmission is declining. It is an impact of the ongoing movement restrictions countrywide."

He, however, said the transmission can go up again any time. "During the first wave last year, we saw ups and down during the peak of the transmission. Apparently, the latest data shows the peak is most probably over. But we have to wait a few more days to say it with certainty."

He stressed on enforcing health safety guidelines.

Prof Sayedur Rahman, chairman of pharmacology at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, also stressed on adhering to the health safety guidelines.

"A surgical mask can give more than 90 percent protection from a virus irrespective of variants. The virus will keep mutating and the researchers will need time to bring compatible vaccines. So mask is the best solution for next couple of years," Prof Sayedur told The Daily Star on Tuesday.

During the 24 hours ending at 8:00am yesterday, 95 Covid-19 patients died, raising the total number of casualties to 10,683. This was 1.46 percent of all confirmed cases, according to a DGHS press release.

In those 24 hours, 7,072 Covid-19 patients recovered.

A total of 86,568 patients were undergoing treatment as of yesterday. Of them, 55,517 were in general beds and 793 in ICUs in different hospitals across the country.

Among the 95 deceased, 59 were men and 36 women. Of them, three were aged between 31 and 40; 13 between 41 and 50; 22 between 51 and 60; and 57 were above 60 years old, added the release.