The health authorities of Bangladesh reported 15,527 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours till Wednesday morning, taking the total caseload to 12,261,252.
As many as 49,073 samples were tested during the period with a test positivity rate of 31.64%, according to figures released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). It was 32.4% a day before.
Bangladesh registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest infection rate of 32.55% was recorded on July 24.
The DGHS logged 17 deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday. The total fatality now stands at 28,273.
Nationwide another 1,052 people recovered from the disease, taking the total recovery to 1,560,006. With the latest count, the recovery rate stands at 90.09% while the fatality rate at 1.63%.
Dhaka, the epicentre of the virus, logged 9,456 cases and accounted for 10 of the deaths.
Chittagong division logged four deaths while Rajshahi, Khulna, and Mymensingh each recorded one.
The second highest number of infections are also in Chittagong with 2,444 cases, followed by Rajshahi with 1088 cases, Khulna 880, Sylhet 697, Rangpur 359, Barisal 321, and Mymensingh 282 cases.
With 17 new fatalities, the seven-day moving average of single-day deaths in Bangladesh was 13.85 on Wednesday.
Between July 7 and August 12, except for a few days, Bangladesh constantly recorded over 200 deaths a day.
The country reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 last year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 last year.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 69 with the detection of seven more cases till Monday, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data.
The health authorities marked 12 districts, including Dhaka, as red zones owing to their high infection rates between 10% and 29%.
Bangladesh reported its first three cases of Covid-19, a severe acute respiratory illness caused by a strain of coronavirus later named Sars-CoV-2, on March 8, 2020. The first death was reported 10 days later.
Amid growing concerns over the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the government on January 13 announced restrictions on movement of people and public transport vehicles. Schools and colleges went on a hiatus while government and private offices started operating with half manpower to curb the spread of the virus.
A large number of the population has also been vaccinated, with the country crossing the landmark of administering 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines on December 1, nearly 10 months after launching a nationwide campaign.
The fast-spreading coronavirus has so far claimed over 5.6 million lives and infected over 359 million people throughout the world, according to Worldometer.
More than 284 million people have recovered from the disease, which has affected 223 countries and territories across the planet.