The single-day body count from Covid-19 in Bangladesh surged to 19 in a 24-hour span until Friday morning, a day after 13 people succumbed to infections caused by the deadly coronavirus.
With the latest deaths, the death toll currently stands at 6,159. Meanwhile, 1,767 fresh cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, pushing up the numbers to 428,965 infections since the first Covid-19 patients were detected on March 8.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest figures in a regular coronavirus bulletin on Friday, saying that the recovery count rose to 346,387 as another 1,519 patients were discharged from hospitals.
Thirteen of the 19 people that died in the last 24 hours were men; men also accounted for 4,781 (76.98%) of the total Covid-19 deaths in the country.
Of the 19 people — all of whom died in hospitals — 14 were aged above 60, while the rest belonged to the 51-60 age group.
Dhaka Division saw the highest 13 deaths, followed by Rangpur Division with three casualties. One each died in Rajshahi, Khulna, and Barisal divisions.
3rd highest test-positivity rate since Sept 8
The tally of infections has surged to 428,965 as 1,767 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
A total of 13,539 samples were tested at 115 authorized laboratories across the country, to confirm the new 1,767 cases, at a 13.05% positivity rate — the third highest since September 8, when the rate was 12.64%.
The test-positivity rate has been below the 14% mark since September 7; Bangladesh recorded the highest rate, 31.91%, on August 3.
Notably, 17.05% of the samples tested so far have turned out to be positive for the infection.
Of the total cases, 80.75% patients have recovered, while 1.44% have so far died since the first Covid-19 fatality was recorded on March 18.
The novel coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan city in late December last year and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
The fast spreading coronavirus has claimed 1,300,800 lives and infected 53,173,914 people across the world till Friday afternoon, according to Worldometer.
As many as 37,266,278 people have recovered from Covid-19 which has spread to 213 countries and territories across the planet.