DHAKA,  – Bangladesh today recorded 41 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 3,057 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 1,15,397 after another 1,841 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 2,709,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city this afternoon.

She said the tally of infections has surged to 2,10,559 as 3,057 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The health official also informed that a total of 12,898 samples were tested at 80 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.

Among the total infections, 54.82 percent patients have recovered while 1.29 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, she said.

Nasima 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, 34 are male and seven female, Nasima said adding, one is in his 20s while two are in their 30s, six are their 40s, 12 in their 50s, 11 in their 60s, seven in their 70s and two in their 80s.

According to the division-wise data, 15 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 15 in Chattogram division, five in Khulna division and five in Rajshahi division and one in Rangpur division.

Of the total 2,709 deaths, 1,320 are in Dhaka Division, 688 in Chattogram division, 149 in Rajshahi division, 178 in Khulna division, 100 in Barishal division, 125 in Sylhet division, 91 in Rangpur division and 58 in Mymensingh division.

She said a total of 10, 54,559 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 70 physicians and 20 health workers for round the clock in the country.

It said nearly 1.71 crore 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 21, 2020, 10.16 GMT, 613,988 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 14,880,261 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.