Having co-morbidity issues is one of the reasons why males have a higher death rate from Covid-19 in Bangladesh, said a virologist.

A 70-year-old man died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh on March 18, which was the first recorded death from the virus.

During a period of 156 days since the first case was detected on March 8, 3,438 patients have died so far, and 79 percent of them were males.

The gender breakdown of death victims from Covid-19 according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data shows that 2,721 were men and 717 were women.

Professor Nazrul Islam, noted virologist and former vice-chancellor at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, told The Business Standard there is no specific reason for higher Covid-19 infections among males.

Males usually stay out of home for a longer period, and many of them go out unnecessarily, he said.

"Moreover, men are more reluctant to follow health rules. As more males contract the virus, their death rate is higher, too.

"Also, most of the males have co-morbidity issues. This is another reason why the male death rate is higher," Professor Nazrul explained.

On Monday, the total number of infections reached 260,507 and the death toll rose to 3,438.

Thirty-nine more people died and 2,907 tested positive in the last 24 hours till Monday 8am.

"Of the dead patients, 35 were men and four were women. Twelve of them hailed from Dhaka, eight from Rajshahi, seven from Chattogram, six from Khulna, three from Mymensingh, two from Barishal and one from Rangpur," said Professor Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the DGHS during the online daily briefing on Monday.

Thirty-one of them died in different hospitals and eight at their respective residences, she said.

Dr Nasima Said, "In the last 24 hours, 12,855 samples were collected and 12,849 were tested in 85 labs across the country. So far, 1,273,168 samples have been tested."

A total of 2,067 patients were declared to have recovered from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 150,437. The recovery rate till date is 57.75 percent.

Monday's infection rate was 22.62 percent of the total tests though the overall rate in the country till date is 20.46 percent and death rate is 1.32 percent.

Speaking about division-wise fatalities, Dr Nasima said 1,639 hailed from Dhaka, 811 from Chattogram, 265 from Khulna, 221 from Rajshahi, 158 from Sylhet, 135 from Rangpur, 134 from Barishal, and 75 from Mymensingh.

Highlights:

Total infected: 260,507 or 20.46%

Total death: 3,438 or 1.32%

Total recovery: 150,437 or 57.75%

Total sample test: 1,273,168

Isolated: 18,981

In Quarantine: 52,482