Bangladesh reports fourth coronavirus death, six new cases

Bangladesh has confirmed six more coronavirus cases and one more death, taking the total number of infected patients to 39 and deaths to four.

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research, or IEDCR, presented the latest update on the novel coronavirus pandemic in an online media briefing on Tuesday.

Of the infected, five have already recovered from the disease.

Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of the IEDCR, said one of the six new patients died at a hospital.

The victim was more than 70 years old and had already been undergoing treatment at a hospital for a long time, Flora said.   

The other five include a person who had recently travelled back from Saudi Arabia after preforming Umrah pilgrimage.

The four others were close contacts of the already known COVID-19 patients, according to the IEDCR chief.

It was yet to find out how one of the six new cases contracted the virus, she said.

The global death toll from coronavirus has hit 16,767 with the number of infections rising to 387,382, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Infections have been reported by 194 countries outside China.

The agency came to know about the patient as it was monitoring the hospitals, Flora said. Later, test confirmed the patient had caught the virus.

The IEDCR has tested samples from a total of 712 people, including 92 in the 24 hours to Tuesday afternoon.