ZCZC
BSS-22
COVID-19-BRIEFING
Bangladesh records highest COVID-19 deaths, fresh cases
DHAKA, May 18, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today recorded the biggest single-day spike of deaths of 21 people from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), raising the total number of fatalities from the pandemic to 349.
The caseload also soared to 23,870 after 1602 people, the highest in a single day, tested positive for COVID-19 during the same period, a top health official said.
“Twenty-one more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, bringing the body count to 349,” DGHS Additional Director General (administration) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.
Nasima said that a total of 9,788 samples were tested, the highest in a single day, at the 42 authorised labs across the country during the period.
She informed that the recovery count also jumped to 4585 in the last 24 hours after 212 patients were discharged from hospitals.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Globally, over 4.71 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 315,283 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
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