FBD Desk:

Bangladesh on Saturday recorded 23 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 1,209 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 3,02,298 after another 1,560 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said today.

“Twenty-three more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 5,646,” the release said.

It said the tally of infections has surged to 3,87,295 as 1,209 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

A total of 11,573 samples were tested at 110 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.

Of the total sample tests in the past 24 hours, 10.45 percent tested positive, while 18.00 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, the release added.

Among the total infections, 78.05 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 23 deaths, 18 are male and five female, the press release said, adding, one is in his 20s, two are in their 30s, four in their 50s while 15 are above 60 years and one is below 10 years.

According to the division-wise data, 14 deaths took place in Dhaka division and rests are in other divisions.

Among the total 5,646 deaths, 2,889 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 1,133 in Chattogram division, 360 in Rajshahi division, 455 in Khulna division, 195 in Barishal division, 239 in Sylhet division, 257 in Rangpur division and 118 in Mymensingh division, according to the press release.

A total of 21,51,702 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.

As of October 16, a total of 4,81,698 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine.

The DGHS said 2,18,14,225 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 17, 2020, 09:33 GMT, 1,109,834 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 39,633,376 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. (Source: BSS)