Bangladesh has recorded 18 more deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the number of total fatalities to 8,545.
The country also logged more than 557,000 coronavirus cases with 1,159 people having tested positive over the same period – the highest number of infections this year.
The last time daily Covid-19 cases crossed the 1100-mark was on December 30, 2020 (1,235).
With this development, the number of all confirmed cases so far jumped to 557,395.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) revealed the latest figures on Covid-19 in the country with a press release on Sunday.
On January 10, the country last recorded a higher single-day caseload above the 1,000-mark (1,071 cases). Since then, the number remained below the 1,000 mark, until Wednesday when it shot to 1,018.
The month of March has been witnessing an upward trend of rising cases day by day. On March 1, 585 new (above 500) Covid-19 cases were recorded, after almost a month of a lower rate of infections.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) press release, issued Saturday afternoon, the infection or test positivity rate from the last 24 hours was 7.15% and the overall rate to date stood at 13.07%.
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Of the deceased over the last 24 hours, 12 were men and six were women. Ten were from Dhaka Division, five from Chittagong, two from Rajshahi, and one from Barisal divisions.
Of the total deceased since March 18 last year, 6,463 were men and 2,082 were women.
Meanwhile, 16,206 samples, including the pending ones, were tested in 219 labs across the country in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, 1,385 patients recovered from Covid-19 at the same time, raising the total to 511,695 with a 91.80% recovery rate.
The director general of DGHS on Sunday warned that dangers lie ahead of the country if people continue to ignore health guidelines.
Bangladesh is witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases while experts said it could be the start of a second wave in the country.
The country's first three cases were reported on March 8 last year and the first death from the novel coronavirus 10 days later.
Meanwhile, more than 5.6 million people registered around the country to get the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine till Sunday afternoon, said the health directorate.
Until Saturday, over 4.3 million people have been vaccinated nationwide since January 27.
The novel coronavirus broke out in China's Wuhan city in late December 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world, becoming a pandemic in less than three months.
The fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 2,661,035 lives and infected as many as 120,123,556 people across the world till Saturday afternoon, according to worldometer.
As many as 96,646,107 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has affected 219 countries and territories across the planet.
