Bangladesh counts 1,666 virus cases, 37 deaths in a day

The death toll jumped to 5,044 after 37 fatalities were registered until 8 am Wednesday, the government said.

The number of recoveries outpaced fresh cases in the same period as another 2,163 patients recovered from COVID-19 through treatment at home and in hospital care. It brings the total to 262,953.

A total of 14,150 samples were tested at 102 authorised labs across the country in the last 24 hours, with a positivity rate of 11.77 percent, according to data released by the health directorate.

The official figures put the recovery rate at 74.64 percent, while the mortalities account for 1.43 percent of all cases.

Globally, over 31.61 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 971,116 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.