Bangladesh sets new record in virus cases: 8,822 in a day

Bangladesh has registered 8,822 new cases of COVID-19, a daily record, taking the total caseload from the disease to 913,258.

A division-wide breakdown showed Dhaka logging 4,362 new cases, nearly half of the total tally. Khulna saw 1,277 cases, followed by Chattogram at 951 and Rajshahi at 933.

Bangladesh also registered 115 deaths from the coronavirus in the same period, taking the total death toll from the disease to 14,503, according to the latest government released on Wednesday.

Khulna, a recent hotspot, with the highest number of deaths, at 30. Rajshahi and Chattogram saw 23 deaths each, while Dhaka counted 17.

Nationwide, another 4,550 people recovered from the illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 816,250.

As many as 35,105 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 25.13 percent. The latest figures put the recovery rate at 89.38 percent and the mortality rate at 1.59 percent.

Bangladesh has seen a renewed surge in coronavirus infections and deaths, particularly in the border districts, in June due to the community transmission of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, first found in neighbouring India.

In an effort to fight a rising wave of infections across the country, the government further tightened health restrictions on Jun 28. Bangladesh will deploy troops to enforce another seven-day nationwide lockdown starting on Thursday.

Globally, over 181.85 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 3.93 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.