Bangladesh reports 813 new virus cases, deaths rise by 16

Bangladesh has recorded 813 new cases of the coronavirus in a daily count, taking the tally of infections so far to 525,723.

The death toll climbed to 7,849 after 16 people died from the illness in the 24 hours to 8 am Thursday, according to data released by the government.

The number of new recoveries outpaced active cases in the same period as another 883 patients recovered from the illness through treatment at home and in hospital care, bringing the total to 470,405.

As many as 16,608 samples were tested at 199 authorised labs across the country in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 4.90 percent.

The latest official figures put the recovery rate at 89.48 percent while the mortality rate stands at 1.49 percent.

Globally, over 92.38 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 1.97 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.