DHAKA, – Bangladesh today recorded 64 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the highest in a single day and 3,682 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 59,624 after another 1844 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.

“Sixty-four more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 1,847,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city.

She said the tally of infections has surged to 1,45,483 as 3,682 new cases were confirmed in the 24 hours.

The health official also informed that a total of 18,426 samples were tested at the authorised laboratories across the country during the time.

Among the total infections, 40.98 percent patients have recovered while 1.27 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive case was reported in the country on March 8, she said.

Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.

Ruling out the shortage of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, Nasima said there are 6015 beds and 134 ICUs in 16 COVID-19 dedicated hospital in Dhaka city.

At present, a total of 2,375 coronavirus patients have been admitted to these hospitals, while 97 patients remain at the ICUs, she added.

There are 14,690 beds and 354 ICUs in the country, the health official said, adding now 4881 patients are undergoing treatment at these hospitals and 213 were admitted to the ICUs.

“So, there is no scarcity of ICUs and beds in the hospital for COVID-19 patients,” she added.

Nasima urged the people to abide by health rules to protect themselves from the infection of the deadly virus.

“We’ve to be aware more about codes … Health protection measures are the best remedies to prevent the pandemic,” she added.

She laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives — wearing mask, physical distancing and washing hands by soap — to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Referring to the latest health directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the health official said people must wear masks to protect themselves from infections of coronavirus and mentioned that scientifically cloth-made mask is equally effective to prevent the virus.

“We can reuse cloth-made masks after washing by detergents or soaps,” Nasima said.

She said nearly 75 percent COVID-19 patients are taking treatment from their homes, and many of them are being cured every day after receiving treatment through hotlines.

The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram as COVID-19 “hotspots” because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.

Among the 64 deaths, 52 are male and 12 female, Nasima said adding, seven in their 30s, six in their 40s, 21 in their 50s, 16 in their 60s, 11 in their 70s and three in their 80s.

According to the division-wise data, 31 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 12 in Chattogram division, seven in Khulna division and seven in Rajshahi division while rests are in other divisions.

As of June 24, Dhaka city has been considered as the worst-affected with 27,267 COVID -19 cases, according to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

As of June 28, among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram district including city areas and Narayanganj including city areas are the most hardest- hit ones with 7,466 and 5021 cases respectively, according to the IEDCR data.

It was followed by Gazipur district including city areas with 3270 cases, Cumilla district with 3074 cases Dhaka district, excluding city areas, with 2856 cases, Cox’s Bazar district with 2,350 cases, Sylhet district including city areas with 2174 cases, Noakhali district with 2013 cases, Munshiganj district with 1944 cases, Faridpur district with 1827 cases, Mymensingh district including city areas with 1613 cases, Khulna district including city areas with 1551, Barishal district including city areas with 1378 cases, Narsingdi district with 1280 cases, and Kishoreganj district with 1083 cases.

She said a total of 7,66,460 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

A total of 3,63,866 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2, 99,199 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 64,667.

It said a total of 632 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 15,145 people have now been kept in isolation.

The government has collected 25, 28,285 PPE so far, of which over 23,87,364 were distributed and 1,40,881 are in stock, the DGHS said.

It said 1,39,41,391 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 June 30, 2020, 09.34 GMT, 508,630 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 10,429,791 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.