Bangladesh reports 13 new virus deaths, lowest in 8 months

Bangladesh has registered 13 new deaths from the coronavirus, the lowest daily count in eight months, taking the death toll so far to 7,862.

The tally of infections climbed to 526,485 after 762 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8 am Friday, according to data released by the government.

Another 718 patients recovered from the illness through treatment at home and in hospital care, bringing the total to 471,123.

As many as 13,678 samples were tested at 199 authorised labs across the country in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 5.57 percent.

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

Globally, over 93.1 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 1.99 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.