Bangladesh today recorded 37 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and 3,462 fresh cases overnight.
�Thirty-seven more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 1,582,� Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city.
She said the recovery count rose to 49,666 after another 2031 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period.
Nasima said the tally of infections has surged to 1, 22,660 as 3,462 new cases were confirmed in the 24 hours.
She also informed that a total of 16,433 samples were tested at 66 the authorised laboratories across the country during the time.
Among the total infections, 40.49 percent patients have recovered while 1.29 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8, the health official said.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Nasima urged the people to abide by health rules to protect themselves from the infection of the deadly virus.
�We�ve to be aware more about codes � Health protection measures are the best remedies to prevent the pandemic,� she added.
She laid emphasis on maintaining three heath directives � wearing mask, physical distancing and washing hands by soap � to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Referring to latest health directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the health official said the people must wear masks to protect themselves from infections of coronavirus and mentioned that scientifically cloth-made mask is equally effective to prevent the virus.
�We can reuse cloth-made masks after washing by detergents or soaps,� Nasima said.
She said nearly 75 percent COVID-19 patients are taking treatment from their homes, and many of them are being cured every day after receiving treatment through hotlines.
The health official dubbed Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chattogram as COVID-19 �hotspots� because the maximum numbers of cases were detected in the three cities.
Among the 37 deaths, 28 are male and nine female, Nasima said adding, two are in his 20s, two in their 30s, three in their 40s, 12 in their 50s, nine in their 60s, eight in their 70s and one is between 10 to 20.
According to the division-wise data, 10 deaths took place in Dhaka division, nine in Chattogram division, six in Rajshahi division and seven in Khulna division while rests are in other divisions.
As of June 22, Dhaka city has been considered as the worst-affected with 24,504 COVID cases, according to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
Among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram district including city areas and Narayanganj including city areas are the most hardest- hit ones with 5,585 and 4,700 cases respectively, according to the IEDCR data.
It was followed by Dhaka district, excluding city areas, with 2479 cases, Gazipur district including city areas with 2511 cases, Cumilla district with 2471, Sylhet district including city areas with 1814 cases, Munshiganj district with 1776 cases, Noakhali district with 1707 cases,
Cox�s Bazar district with 1688 cases, Mymensingh district including city areas with 1315 cases, Faridpur district with 1241 cases, Narsingdi district with 1240 cases, Barishal including city areas with 1129 and Kishoreganj district with 1083 cases.
She said a total of 6, 60,444 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.
A total of 3, 47,299 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 2, 83,331 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who are now in quarantine is 63,907.
It said a total of 629 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 31,991 people in quarantine, adding nearly 13,158 people have now been kept in isolation.
The government has collected 25, 28,285 PPE so far, of which over 23,62,814 were distributed and 1,65,431 are in stock, the DGHS said.
It said 1,29,42,456 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.
To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.
As of June 24, 2020, 09.25 GMT, 480,170 have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are 9,373,825 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.