Bangladesh logs 473 new virus cases, another 20 die

Bangladesh has recorded 473 new cases of the coronavirus in a daily count, taking the tally of infections so far to 531,799.

The death toll climbed to 8,023 after 20 fatalities were registered in the 24 hours to 8 am Sunday, according to data released by the government.

The number of new recoveries outpaced active cases in the same period with another 487 patients recovering from the illness through treatment at home and in hospital care. It brings the tally of recoveries to 476,413.

As many as 14,169 samples were tested at 200 authorised labs across the country in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 3.34 percent.

The latest official figures put the recovery rate at 89.59 percent, while the mortality rate stands at 1.51 percent.

Globally, over 98.78 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 2.12 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.