At least 701 COVID-19 patients died in their homes or brought dead at hospitals in the past 146 days until Thursday as people apparently lack confidence in hospital care.

The numbers of deaths outside the hospitals — 667 at home and 34 on the way to hospitals — are compiled from the daily updates provided by the Directorate General of Health Services.

Experts doubt the accuracy of the government tally.

There are many people who are dying with COVID-19 but they are not counted by the DGHS, which even lost the data of over 94,000 confirmed COVID-19 patients from its accounts, they said.

‘It’s regrettable that so many COVID-19 patients are dying outside hospitals,’ said noted virologist Nazrul Islam.

‘The numbers depict a sorry state of treatment in the country for the coronavirus patients,’ he said.

Bangladesh so far registered the deaths of 5,460 COVID-19 patients. The country passed seven months since the first infections were reported on March 8.

The deaths of patients outside hospitals accounts for 12.84 per cent of the total number of deaths in the country, although the DGHS  started the account of deaths at homes and on the way to hospitals after May 17, over two months after the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

The reports of number of deaths outside hospitals increased between week 11-20.

The highest number of deaths outside hospitals was reported in the 15th week (June 14-20), registering 93 deaths.

Week 17 and 18 each reported the deaths of 74 people.

In 70 days between week 11-20, the DGHS recorded 502 deaths at homes and 30 were brought dead at hospitals.

Week 21-30 witnessed 160 deaths at home and four were brought dead at hospitals as the daily deaths started to decline.

The country is now into its 31st week of infections and the week already recorded five deaths at home.

Health minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said at a programme in the capital that the government ensured improved treatment for the COVID-19 patients that helped lower the death rate.

Virologist Nazrul Islam, also a member of National Advisory Committee on COVID-19, however said that there has been a campaign to whitewash the facts and claim that the country did not suffer much due to COVID-19 outbreak and that the country is now out of risks of the coronavirus spread.

‘The campaign does not reflect the fact that so many people died of COVID-19 without proper treatment as well as in their homes,’ he said.

The government initially asked people to stay home if they are not critically infected, said Nazrul, adding, ‘People were unable to decide whether their illness were critical or not and as a result such advice from the government to stay home with infections led to immense sufferings and even deaths.’

‘People initially had a hard time trying to get admitted to hospitals while the experiences of others not getting proper treatment at hospitals led to the distrust of the healthcare providers and opted to stay home,’ he said.

Nazrul said that the management of patients, their isolation and treatment bore all the signs of mismanagement on the part of the government.

DGHS spokesperson Habibur Rahman said that many COVID-19 patients decided to stay home out of their own ‘callousness’.

‘They did not take it seriously and died in their homes,’ he said, claiming that they always suggested that risky patients, those who are having comorbidities and are old, to go to hospitals after getting infected with COVID-19.

Habibur, also a director of DGHS, said there was no mismanagement of patients on their part.  

According to independent researchers, a large number of people died with symptoms of COVID-19 but they were not even tested after their deaths.

According to Centre for Genocide Studies, a Dhaka University-based research organisation, at least 2,196 people died with COVID-19 symptoms since March 8.

It said 728 people died with COVID-19 symptoms in Chattogram division, 394 in Dhaka division, 350 in Khulna division, 244 in Barishal, 223 in Rajshahi, 102 in Sylhet, 95 in Rangpur and 60 in Mymensingh division.

Nazrul, also a former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said that the government failed to ensure widespread testing of COVID-19 suspected people.

‘We have still time to act, or else we might face a catastrophic situation in the coming winter,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 20 more COVID-19 deaths and 1,441 new cases in the past 24 hours till 8:00am Thursday, tallying so far 3,74,592 cases with 5,460 deaths.

Around 12,605 samples were tested across the country in the past 24 hours and 11.43 per cent of them were found positive for COVID-19.

The current test positivity rate is 18.37 per cent while the current death rate is 1.46 per cent.

So far, 2,88,316 COVID-19 patients have recovered, including 1,685 in the pa