Bangladesh confirms 6 more deaths from coronavirus, 94 new cases

Bangladesh has reported six more deaths from the coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 27.

Another 94 people tested positive for the disease from 1,097 samples in the last 24 hours, according to the government disease control agency IEDCR.

This is the biggest daily increase in cases since Bangladesh reported first cases on Mar 8, taking the tally of positive tests to 424.

A total of 33 patients have recovered from the disease so far but there were no recovered patients in the last 24 hours, said IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora.

Earlier, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain confirmed that the nationwide shutdown, which the government had termed a general holiday, would be further extended to Apr 25.

"We have received the prime minister's decision. The holiday is being extended to Apr 25. But this won't be a general holiday," said Farhad told bdnews24.com on Friday.

"There's the matter of providing relief and other emergency services across the country which is why government officials must be at their offices. Therefore, we are working on the finer details of the holiday from Apr 15 to 25. Further details will be outlined in the order itself," he added.

Bangladesh announced a shutdown of offices and public transport from Mar 26 to Apr 4, before extending it to Apr 14 as the number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus continued to rise.

However, the order does not apply to utility and emergency services, including the fire service, power, gas, water and telecoms.