Staff Correspondent: Dhaka, Jul-23,

Although the Covid-related deaths dropped to 166 in Bangladesh on Friday from 231 on July 19, the country’s health system still remained overwhelmed.   

The country saw below 200 fatalities for the third straight day.

Also, Covid-19 infections are at 81% of the peak now, with 9,632 new cases reported on average each day. The highest daily average was recorded on July 15.

Bangladesh recorded 6,364 new infections in 24 hours till Friday morning after testing 20,493 samples.

With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, the country's fatalities had been hovering at nearly 200 for the last two weeks. It reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality number – 231 – on July 19 and 13,768 infections on the 12th of the month.

There have been 1,146,564 infections and 18,851 coronavirus-related deaths here since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate fell to 31.05% from Thursday's 32.19% when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.

Amid growing concerns about the highly infectious Delta variant, Dhaka division reported the highest 60 deaths, Khulna and Chattogram 33 each, Rangpur 12, Barishal 10, Sylhet eight, Rajshahi seven, and Mymensingh three.

However, the death rate stood at 1.64% and the recovery rate rose to 85.35%.

So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 11,565,087 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.

The government on Friday reimposed the countrywide strict lockdown following an eight-day pause for Eid-ul-Azha. The new restrictions will continue till August 5, unless extended again.

The country imposed its toughest lockdown at the start of July. Under the lockdown, people were only allowed to leave home to buy essentials and for emergencies.

With the recent removal of the curbs ahead of Eid celebrations, people were seen breaking Covid-19 rules while they were on the streets and in markets and malls.

At least 82.67 lakh subscribers of the four telecom operators left Dhaka during July 15-20 to celebrate Eid, according to Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar.

The WHO has reported that globally, Covid-19 cases and deaths had soared after periods of decline, with the reversal spurred in part by the delta variant.