DHAKA,  – Bangladesh today recorded 41 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) overnight and 3,775 fresh cases.

The recovery count rose to 62,102 after another 2,484 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.

“Forty-one more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 1,888,” 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 1,49,258 as 3,775 new cases were confirmed in the 24 hours.

The health official also informed that a total of 17,875 samples were tested at 69 authorised laboratories across the country during the time.

Among the total infections, 41.61 percent patients have recovered while 1.26 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were 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 case.

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 latest health directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the health official said the 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 41 deaths, 38 are male and three female, Nasima said adding, four in their 30s, five in their 40s, 12 in their 50s, 11 in their 60s, seven in their 70s and one in his 80s and one is nearly 100.

According to the division-wise data, 13 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 17 in Chattogram division, five in Khulna division while rests are in other divisions.

As of June 30, among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram district including city areas and Narayanganj including city areas are the most hardest- hit ones with 8,035 and 5148 cases respectively, according to the IEDCR data.

It was followed by Cumilla district with 3500, Gazipur district including city areas with 3270 cases, Dhaka district, excluding city areas, with 3106 cases, Cox’s Bazar district with 2,506 cases, Sylhet district including city areas with 2153 cases, Noakhali district with 2153 cases, Faridpur district with 2047 cases, Munshiganj district with 1944 cases, Khulna district including city areas with 1786, Mymensingh district including city areas with 1656 cases, Barishal district including city areas with 1378, Narsingdi district with 1280 cases, and Kishoreganj district with 1083 cases.

She said a total of 7, 84,335 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

A total of 3, 66,295 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 3, 0,2,413 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 63,882.

It said a total of 632 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 15,547 people have now been kept in isolation.

The government has collected 25, 28,285 PPE so far, of which over 23,98,064 were distributed and 1,23,181 are in stock, the DGHS said.

It said 1,41,02,681 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 July 1, 2020, 10.30 GMT, 514,615 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 10,613,035 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.