3 more die of Covid, 257 new cases

Bangladesh has registered three new deaths from Covid-19 in a day, taking the total toll to 28,041.

The coronavirus caseload rose to 1,580,559 as 257 people tested positive for the disease in the 24 hours till 8am on Thursday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The positivity rate was recorded at 1.02%, as the health officials tested 25,203 samples across the country. The country reported four deaths and 297 cases on the previous day.

With the latest additions, 181 patients were declared free from the illness during the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,545,114, with a 97.76% recovery rate.

In the past 24 hours, the combined figure of coronavirus in Dhaka city and upazilas of the Dhaka district is 193 while one Covid-19 death was reported during the period.

Each of the deceased was reported in the Dhaka, Chattogram, and Khulna divisions.

The DGHS said among the total 28,041 fatalities, 12,244 occurred in the Dhaka division, 5,687 in Chattogram, 2,058 in Rajshahi, 3,615 in Khulna, 948 in Barishal, 1,272 in Sylhet, 1,370 in Rangpur and 847 in the Mymensingh divisions.

Globally, over 272.31 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 5.33 million 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.

The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March.