Dhaka: At least two people are testing positive for coronavirus every minute, and five are reported dead every three hours from the highly transmissible virus, according to government statistics released yesterday.

A total of 3,868 new cases were detected in 24 hours until 2:30pm yesterday and 40 people died in the same period, said Nasima Sultana, additional director general of Directorate General of Health Services, at the daily briefing.

The death toll from the deadly virus rose to 1,661 and the number of total infections to 130,474.

The infection rate among the tested samples was 20.91 percent.

Analysing the DGHS's daily data, it was found that the situation has not changed much in the last few weeks.

On June 10, 3,190 patients were detected with COVID-19 while the number of deaths was 37. The infection rate among the tested patients was 19.98 percent that day.

On June 15, there were 3,099 new cases and 38 dead. The infection rate among the tested patients was 20.61 percent that day.

Experts said while the numbers may appear to have stabilised, they could rocket upwards any time and if more tests are done, more cases will be identified.

They said more people should be tested to identify all possible cases to contain the spread.

"It seems the infection rate is static, but to me the concern is that the number of mild cases may be more than 10 times larger than the identified ones," Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Consultant and epidemiologist Mushtuq Husain told The Daily Star.

He said, "As the mild cases are not identified, it may cause a sudden spike in any part of the country, especially in crowded cities at any time. So, we have to remain cautious about it."

On June 20, a total of 3,240 people tested COVID-19 positive while 37 died. The infection rate among tested patients was 23.09 percent on that day.

ASM Alamgir, principal scientific officer at the IEDCR, said the data showed that the number of detected cases was on an upward trend, but in the last few days the rate is decreasing.

"It is not conclusive, but it will not rise suddenly or fall abruptly," he told The Daily Star.

The first cases were identified in the country on March 8 but testing facilities were limited initially. From May, the number of tests increased.

Bangladesh remains the 17th-worst affected country in the world in terms of the number of cases -- one place higher than South Africa and just below France, according to worldometer.info.

https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/2-coronavirus-cases-detected-every-minute-1921121