Bangladesh today recorded 46 coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 3,489 fresh cases overnight.
The recovery count rose to 80,838 after another 2,736 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said.
�Forty-six more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 2197,� 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 tally of infections has surged to 1, 72,134 as 3489 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.
The health official also informed that a total of 15,672 samples were tested at authorised laboratories across the country during the time.
Among the total infections, 46.96 percent patients have recovered while 1.28 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive case was reported in the country on March 8, she said.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Ruling out the shortage of beds and ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, Nasima said there are 6,305 beds and 142 ICUs in 16 COVID-19 dedicated hospitals in Dhaka city.
The country has a total of 14,945 beds and 394 ICUs for the COVID-19 patients, the health official said adding there is no scarcity of ICUs and beds in the hospital for COVID-19 patients.
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 it 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 46 deaths, 38 are male and eight female, Nasima said adding, two are in their 20s, two in their 30s, one in his 40s, 15 in their 50s, 16 in their 60s, six in their 70s, three in their 80s and one in their 90s.
According to the division-wise data, 12 deaths took place in Dhaka division, 14 in Chattogram division, and nine in Khulna division while rests are in other divisions.
Of the total 2,197 deaths, 1,139 are in Dhaka Division, 971 in Chattogram division, 110 in Rajshahi division, 106 in Khulna division, 75 in Barishal division, 95 in Sylhet division, 66 in Rangpur division and 52 in Mymensingh division.
As of July 8, among the COVID-19-prone districts, Chattogram district including city areas and Narayanganj including city areas are the most hardest- hit ones with 9,888 and 5424 cases respectively, according to the IEDCR data.