13,768 new COVID-19 cases, 220 deaths reported in 24 hours

Bangladesh has registered a record 13,768 new COVID-19 cases in a day, taking the total caseload to 1,034,957.

The country also logged 220 new deaths, taking the total death toll to 16,639 until 8 am Monday, according to the latest government data, reports bdnews24.com.

Dhaka logged the highest daily cases and most deaths among the eight divisions with 6,413 new cases and 64 more deaths. Khulna, a recent virus hotspot, logged 55 deaths and 1,642 new cases. Chattogram saw 37 new deaths and 2,311 new cases, Rajshahi saw 23 deaths and 1,339 cases, and Rangpur saw 18 deaths and 613 new cases.

Nationwide, another 7,020 people recovered from the illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 881,521.

As many as 44,067 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 31.24 per cent. The latest figures put the recovery rate at 85.17 per cent and the mortality rate at 1.61 per cent.

Bangladesh is currently facing a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths, prompting the government to impose its harshest lockdown yet.

After record infections and deaths in April, June was the second cruellest month for Bangladesh since the coronavirus pandemic struck the country in March 2020.

Globally, over 186.56 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and nearly 4.03 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.

A Reuters tally of new COVID-19 infections shows them rising in 69 countries, with the daily rate at 478,000.

The he Delta coronavirus variant is responsible for record rises in infections in Australia where another lockdown looks imminent. South Korea has put its capital Seoul under the toughest anti-COVID curbs so far while cases continue to rise across Asia and Europe.