UNB :
As Bangladesh’s fight to stem Covid-19 continues, it recorded 1,710 new cases in 24 hours until Monday morning, raising the total caseload to 8,00,540.
During the period, the deadly virus also claimed 36 more lives.
With the fresh death toll, the total number of fatalities rose to 12,619.
The new cases of infections were detected after carrying out 18, 178 sample tests, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout.
The positivity rate dropped to 9.41% from Sunday’s 10.11% while the death rate remained static at 1.58%.
Until now, 7,40,372 people recovered from the virus putting the country’s recovery rate at 92.48%.
The country has so far completed testing 5,947,513 samples.
Among the deceased, 12 are from Chattogram and eight from Dhaka divisions.
Besides, nine died in Rajshahi, six in Khulna and one in Sylhet divisions from Covid-19.
Bangladesh reported its first Coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Bangladesh on Sunday announced an extension of border closure with India by another two weeks from June 1 to June 14 as the coronavirus situation hardly shows any sign of improvement.
The border with India will remain closed till June 14 but the movement of cargo-carrying goods will remain uninterrupted.
“We’ve extended it (border closure) for 14 more days and will evaluate the situation further,” a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB on Sunday.
Bangladesh decided to close its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargo on April 26 which was later extended till May 31 to control the spread of Coronavirus as the situation in the neighbouring country deteriorated.
The cross-border movement of people between Bangladesh and India has remained suspended since then.
Bangladesh confirmed its first case of the Indian Coronavirus variant on May 8 this year.
The local administration has extended the ongoing lockdown in Chapainawabganj for another week due to the worsening Covid-19 situation.
The restriction will remain in force from June 1 to June 7, said Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Manjurul Hafiz at a press briefing at his office on Monday noon.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s ongoing lockdown period has been extended another week until June 6 to control the virus.
Besides, district administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdown in their areas if the Covid-19 situation deteriorates there, the cabinet secretary said on Monday.
