Bangladesh’s Covid-19 death toll reaches 6,807

The death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 6,807 in Bangladesh, with 35 newly-reported deaths in the last 24 hours till 8am Saturday.

Meanwhile, 1,888 more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which took the number of cases in the country to 475,879, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The latest day's infection rate was 13.94% of the total tests, though the overall rate in the country till date was 16.70%. The death rate stands at 1.43%, the DGHS said in a press release.

Among the latest day's victims, 23 were men and 12 were women.

Of them, 23 hailed from Dhaka division, two each from Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur and Mymensingh, and one each from Chattogram and Sylhet.

Among the 35 deceased, 34 passed away at different hospitals while one died at home.

Meanwhile, 13,540 samples were tested at 118 labs across the country in the past 24 hours. A total of 28,49,951 samples have been tested in Bangladesh so far.

Also, 2,457 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the same period, raising the total number of recoveries to 393,408 with an 82.67% recovery rate.

The gender breakdown of Covid-19 victims shows that 5,207 of the total deceased were men while 1,600 were women.

Bangladesh reported the maiden cases on 8 March, and the first death from the virus on 18 March.

Another doctor dies of Covid-19

Dr AKM Shamsul Haque, a paediatric specialist, has died from the novel coronavirus. He was 71.

Now the number of physicians to have died of the virus or with its symptoms stands at 113.

Shamsul Haque breathed his last at 3pm on 3 December while undergoing treatment at the capital's Square Hospitals, says a Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) press release.

He had been working as a senior consultant in the Paediatrics Department of the Impulse Hospital in Dhaka.