Shawdesh Desk:

Bangladesh on Sunday recorded 14 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 1,274 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 3,03,972 after another 1,674 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said this afternoon.

“Fourteen more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 5,660,” the release said.

It said the tally of infections has surged to 3,88,569 as 1,274 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

A total of 11,866 samples were tested at 110 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.

Of the total sample tests in the past 24 hours, 10.74 percent tested positive, while 17.96 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, the release added.

Among the total infections, 78.23 percent patients have recovered, while 1.46 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8.

Among the 14 deaths, 12 are male and two female, the press release said, adding, one is in his 30s, three are in their 50s while 10 are above 60 years.

According to the division-wise data, six deaths took place in Dhaka division and rests are in other divisions.

Among the total 5,660 deaths, 2,895 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 1,134 in Chattogram division, 362 in Rajshahi division, 457 in Khulna division, 196 in Barishal division, 240 in Sylhet division, 257 in Rangpur division and 119 in Mymensingh division, according to the press release.

A total of 21,63,568 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for the COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 100 physicians, for round- the-clock in the country.

A total of 4,84,422 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine.

The DGHS said 2,18,21,269 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency healthcare services.

To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.

As of October 18, 2020, 09:49 GMT, 1,115,206 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 40,006,965 currently confirmed cases in 212 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.

China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.