The number of coronavirus cases surpassed the 15,500 mark in Bangladesh with the detection of record more than 1000 cases overnight on Monday.
Eleven more patients died during the period of 24 hours till Monday 8am.
Additional director general for health Prof Nasima Sultana in the daily bulletin said they had detected single-day highest 1,034 new cases of coronavirus infection after testing 7,208 samples in 37 laboratories across Bangladesh.
With this, the number of total infections stood at 15,691 and the death toll from the pandemic rose to 239. Some 252 patients recovered in last 24 hours, increasing number of total cured patients to 2902.
The PCR lab at the Abdul Malek Ukil Medical College in Noakhali is the latest addition in the list of testing facilities, she said.
Bangladesh confirmed the first cases of coronavirus on March 8 and the first death on March 18. The World Health Organisation declared the virus pandemic on March 11.
Most of the patients are staying at home, Prof Nasima said requesting patients not to lose hope and to stay positive.
“If you're staying mentally strong then your immunity will have a positive impact, too. You’ve to take nutritious food,” she said.
Among the new eleven deceased, five are male and six female. Eight of them are hailed from Dhaka division, two from Chattogram division and one from Rangpur divison.
Their age distribution is -- one aged between 71 and 80, one between 61 and 70, four between 51 and 60, two between 41 and 50, two between 31 and 40 and one more between 21 and 30.
She said around 18.52 percent of Covid-19 patients in Bangladesh have recovered while the death rate is 1.53 percent.
Currently, 36,343 people are quarantined across the country – including 2,360 newly-quarantined individuals.
A total of 176,640 people have completed their quarantine course thus far.
The authorities placed 183 new individuals suspected of having Covid-19 into isolation, bringing the total to 2,236 after 1,176 left, she said.
The government is capable of accommodating 8,634 people at 601 isolation wards and 30,955 people at 615 institutional quarentine facilities.
Moreover, there are 329 ICU facilities and 102 dialysis beds available for the treatment of coronavirus infected patients in Bangladesh.
As many as 4,793,512 hotline services were given by 15,707 trained doctors via three designated numbers, including 135,495 in last 24-hour till 8am Monday.
A total of 683,086 thermal screenings were conducted at different ports, including 382 at airports, 101 at seaports and 344 at land ports in the last 24 hours.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) collected by the government has been 2,132,325 by far, of which 1,743,926 were distributed and 388,392 are left in store.
