DHAKA,  – Bangladesh today recorded 55 more coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 2738 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 72,625 after another 1904 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.

“Fifty-five more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 2052,” 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, 62,417 as 2,738 new cases were confirmed in the 24 hours.

The health official also informed that a total of 13,988 samples were tested at 68 authorised laboratories across the country during the time.

Among the total infections, 44.72 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 cases.

Ruling out the shortage of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, Nasima said there are 6075 beds and 149 ICUs in 16 COVID-19 dedicated hospital in Dhaka city.

The number of total beds and ICUs in the country are 14,775 beds and 401 respectively, the health official said, adding now 7113 patients are undergoing treatment at these hospitals and 355 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 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 55 deaths, 37 are male and 18 female, Nasima said adding, three are in their 30s, 17 in their 40s, 13 in their 50s, nine in their 60s and 12 in their 70s and one is below 10 years.

According to the division-wise data, 19 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 13 in Chattogram division, six in Khulna division, five in Barishal and eight in Rangpur division while rests are in other divisions.

Of the total 2,052 deaths, 1,060 are in Dhaka Division, 934 in Chattogram division, 102 in Rajshahi division, 88 in Khulna division, 72 in Barishal division, 86 in Sylhet division, 61 in Rangpur division and 49 in Mymensingh division.

As of July 4, 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 3670, Gazipur district including city areas with 3270 cases, Dhaka district, excluding city areas, with 3106 cases, Sylhet district including city areas with 2550 cases, Cox’s Bazar district with 2,506 cases, Noakhali district with 2239 cases, Faridpur district with 2047 cases, Munshiganj district with 1944 cases, Mymensingh district including city areas with 1889 cases, Khulna district including city areas with 1786, Barishal district including city areas with 1557, Narsingdi district with 1280 cases, Kishoreganj district with 1083 cases and Chandpur district with 1003.

She said a total of 8,46,062 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

A total of 3, 77,032 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 3, 12,530 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 64,502.

It said a total of 632 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 16,715 people have now been kept in isolation.

The government has collected 25, 28,285 PPE so far, of which over 24,20,164 were distributed and 1,0,8081 are in stock, the DGHS said.

It said 1,47,67,276 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 5, 2020, 10.10 GMT, 533,970 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 11,404,116 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.