Bangladesh reports spike in coronavirus fatalities

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh reported more than 50 coronavirus fatalities and over 3,000 new cases on Tuesday.

According to the Health Ministry’s latest figures, 55 patients died over the past 24 hours, the second highest daily figure since the country’s outbreak started in March.

The most COVID-19 deaths in a day in Bangladesh have been 64 on June 30.

The death toll in the country is now at 2,151, the ministry said.

A total of 3,027 more virus cases were confirmed over the past day, raising the overall count to 168,645.

Recoveries also increased by 1,953 to reach 78,102, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, another media worker died of COVID-19 in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Ahsan Habib, 58, a finance executive at the country’s oldest private television channel, ATN Bangla, died at a hospital in the capital Dhaka.

He was the 12th media professional, including frontline journalists, to have died after testing positive for COVID-19, according to local daily New Age.

Nine other media workers have died with symptoms of the disease but were never tested, the report said.

Bangladeshi authorities lifted a two-month countrywide lockdown on June 1 to restart economic activity, and have now divided areas into three zones – red for high risk, yellow for medium, and white for no risk.

Educational institutes across the country, however, remain closed.