Bangladesh reports 2,928 virus cases, 50 deaths in a day

Bangladesh has recorded 2,928 new cases of the coronavirus infection over a 24-hour period, raising the tally of infections to 207,453.

The death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 2,668 after 50 new fatalities, including 35 men and 15 women, were reported until 8 am Monday, according to the health directorate.

The recovery count also jumped by 1,914 to 113,556 in the same period, DGHS Additional Director General Nasima Sultana said in a media briefing. It puts the rate of recovery from COVID-19 at 54.74 percent, while the mortality rate stands at 1.29 percent.

A total of 13,362 samples were tested at authorised labs across the country with a positivity rate of 21.91 percent in the last 24 hours.

Globally, over 14.50 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 606,206 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.

The official caseload puts Bangladesh ahead of Germany as the 17th most-affected country in the world, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Bangladesh reported its first cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, on Mar 8. It took 87 days for the disease to infect 50,000 people, but the tally doubled to 100,000 on Jun 18 in the space of just 16 days.

In a bid to contain the rampant spread of the disease, the government enforced a nationwide lockdown for more than two months before lifting the restrictions on May 31.

Since then, the epidemic has continued to rampage through the country at an alarming rate. The case count hit 100 on Apr 6 before crossing the 1,000-mark a week later on Apr 14.

By May 25, the number of cases had exceeded 20,000 and reached 50,000 on Jun 2. The tally subsequently surged past 100,000 on Jun 18 and doubled over the next 30 days.