DHAKA, – Bangladesh today recorded 39 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 2,977 fresh cases overnight.
The recovery count rose to 143,824 after another 2,074 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.
“Thirty-nine more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 3,306,” Director of National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) Dr Baizid Khurshid told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city this afternoon.
He said the tally of infections has surged to 2,49,651 as 2,977 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
Of the total sample tests in the past 24 hours, 23.83 percent tested positive, while 20.38 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, Baizid added.
Among the total infections, 57.61 percent patients have recovered, while 1.32 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, he said.
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 39 deaths, 32 are male and seven female, he said, adding nine in their 50s, 13 in their 60s, seven in their 70s and rests are different ages.
According to the division-wise data, 17 deaths took place in Dhaka division, seven in Chattogram division and rests are in other divisions.
Among the total 3,306 deaths, Baizid said, 1,584 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 791 in Chattogram division, 202 in Rajshahi division, 242 in Khulna division, 140 in Barishal division, 156 in Sylhet division, 130 in Rangpur division and 71 in Mymensingh division.
He said a total of 12,25,124 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.
As of August 5, a total of 1,64,921 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine, it said.
The DGHS said nearly 1.83 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 Aug 6, 2020, 10.20 GMT, 711,853 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 19,005,285 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.
