Daily Covid deaths drop further to 21

Bangladesh recorded 21 new coronavirus-related deaths, lowest in 123 days, in a 24-hour period till 8:00am on Sunday

The country also recorded 980 new infections over the same period, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Health authorities also reported a 4.41 per cent positivity rate, which remains below 5 per cent for the sixth consecutive day.

The overall caseload now stands at 15,51,351 and the total fatalities at 27,414.

Health authorities reported the latest figures after testing 22,221 samples at 820 laboratories across the country. Bangladesh has so far tested 96,19,150 samples.

The country earlier reported 17 fatalities from the deadly infection on May 26.

Meanwhile, 1,312 patients recovered from the deadly infection in the last 24-hours, raising the overall recovery to 15,11,479.

Among the fresh fatalities, seven were males and 14 were females.

Dhaka division logged the highest deaths with 10 fatalities, followed by four in Chattogram, three in Sylhet, two in Rajshahi and one each in Khulna and Mymensingh.

Barishal and Rangpur divisions reported no new deaths.

Earlier, daily infections dropped below the 1,000-mark on Saturday after more than four months with 818 fresh cases since May 17 when 698 deaths were reported.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8, 2020, and the first coronavirus-related death on March 18 the same year.

The government is also set to launch a nationwide campaign from Tuesday to inoculate around 75 lakh people to mark the 75th birth anniversary of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Health Minister Zahid Maleque confirmed on Sunday. He said there is no vaccine crisis in the country and the people, who got registered for the vaccines, will get priority during the nationwide campaign.