BD reports 15 coronavirus deaths, 1202 cases in 24 hrs

NEWS DESK

Fifteen people died of coronavirus and 1202 tested positive in the 24 hours to 8:00am, Bangladesh's Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said on Friday.

With the latest, the number of coronavirus deaths and infections now stand respectively at 298 and 20065, said Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of DGHS, during an online press briefing at 2:30pm.

Meanwhile, 279 coronavirus patients recovered, taking the number of total recoveries to 3882, she said.

According to Prof Nasima, the new cases of coronavirus — the highest in a single-day spike — were found after testing 8582 samples in 41 labs, including 20 in Dhaka, across the country during the  period of time under review.

The country reported the first cases of coronavirus on March 08 and the first death 10 days later on March 18.

In an effort to contain the virus, the government has since March 26 enforced a countrywide shutdown but numbers of new cases continue to increase.

The major increase in coronavirus cases has come from the densely populated cities of Dhaka and Narayanganj.

Globally, as of 2:55pm, coronavirus infected 4,542,387 people, according to worldometer.info, a website that provides real-time updates.

Of them, 303,651 died, 1,712,529 recovered, meaning that there are now 2,526,207 coronavirus active cases, the data shows.

Coronavirus was first reported in China in December last year.

As the virus began sweeping across the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.