News Desk :
Bangladesh has registered the highest number of new coronavirus deaths within a single day amid a strict lockdown imposed to contain the surge in infections.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday said 258 new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, a new record, taking the total toll from the disease to 19,779.
The new record comes in line with health experts’ warnings that the outbreak might worsen when the authorities relaxed the health restrictions for more than a week on July 13 to allow people to travel ahead of the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Azha.
Tens of thousands of people travelled from big cities to their home villages on crowded ferries and buses before the government reimposed the lockdown for two more weeks, shutting offices, transportation, factories and shopping malls until August 5.
Besides, the caseload surged to 1,194,752 after 14,925 people tested positive for the disease until 8 am on Tuesday, according to the DGHS data.
Dhaka registered the most daily deaths and new cases among the eight divisions, logging 82 fatalities and 6,188 infections. Chattogram counted 61 deaths and 3,487 cases, Khulna 50 deaths and 1,435 cases, Rajshahi 21 deaths and 881 cases.
Nationwide, another 12,439 people recovered from the illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,022,414.
As many as 52,478 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 28.44 percent. The latest figures put the recovery rate at 85.58 percent and the mortality rate at 1.66 percent. Globally, over 194.78 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 4.16 million have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
