Bangladesh's coronavirus death toll surpasses 7,000

The death toll from the coronavirus infection in Bangladesh has surged to 7,020 after 34 new fatalities were registered in a 24-hour period as the pandemic continues to intensify with the onset of winter.

Another 1,329 people tested positive for COVID-19 until 8 am Saturday, taking the tally of infections so far to 489,178, the government said in a statement.

The number of new recoveries overshot active cases in the same period with 3,185 patients recovering from the disease at home and in hospital care, bringing the total to 417,503.

As many as 12,630 samples were tested at 140 authorised labs in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 10.52 percent, according to data released by the health directorate.

The latest official figures put the recovery rate at 85.35 percent, while the mortality rate stands at 1.44 percent.

Globally, over 71.14 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 1.59 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.