DHAKA, Aug 1, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today recorded 21 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 2,199 fresh cases overnight.
The recovery count rose to 136,253 after another 1,117 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.
“Twenty-one more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 3,132,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city this afternoon.
She said the tally of infections has surged to 239,860 as 2,199 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
The health official also informed that a total of 8,802 samples were tested at 82 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.
Of the total sample test in the past 24 hours, 24.98 percent tested positive, while 20.23 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, Nasima added.
Among the total infections, 56.81 percent patients have recovered, while 1.31 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, she said.
The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram as COVID-19 “hotspots” because the maximum number of cases were detected in the three cities.
Among the 21 deaths, 16 are male and five female, she said, adding one is in his 40s, four in their 50s, eight in their 60s, five in their 70s and one in his 80s while two between 11 and 20.
According to the division-wise data, nine deaths took place in Dhaka division, three in Chattogram division and five in Khulna division and rests are in other divisions.
Among the total 3,132 deaths, Nasima said, 1,497 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 762 in Chattogram division, 186 in Rajshahi division, 226 in Khulna division, 124 in Barishal division, 151 in Sylhet division, 118 in Rangpur division and 68 in Mymensingh division.
She said a total of 11, 85,611 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.
The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 70 physicians and 20 health workers for round the clock in the country.
A total of 1,53,767 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine, it said.
The DGHS said nearly 1.80 crore people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.
To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.
As of Aug 1, 2020, 09.28 GMT, 683,512 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 17,788,318 currently confirmed cases in 212 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.
China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.