As the Covid infection rate continues to swell in Bangladesh, the country recorded 241 more deaths in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.

According to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 13,817 more people came out positive with the virus during the period after the test of 49,514 samples.

The fresh numbers pushed the country’s death tally to 21,638 today with the caseload mounting to 1,309,910.

Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate fell slightly to 27.91 % from  Tuesday’s 28.58%, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.

The recovery rate, however, rose to 87.12%, and the case fatality remained static at 1.65% compared to the same period, said the DGHS.

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Around 16,112 Covid-19 patients have recovered during the last 24-hour period.

Dhaka division continues to be on top of Covid fatalities with 93 deaths followed by 36 in Khulna, 15 in Rangpur, 12 in Rajshahi, seven in Mymensingh and five each in Barishal and Sylhet divisions.

Of them, 125 were men and 116 were women.

Among them, five were within 21-30, 22 between 31-40, 25 between 41-50, 55 between 51-60 and 134 were above 60 years old, added the DGHS release.

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With the vaccination drive slowly gaining momentum, 216,534 people got their first Sinopharm jab during the period.

Besides, 11898,10,931 and 1026 people  received their second dose of Astrazeneca, Sinopharm and Moderna vaccines respectively during this period.

Bangladesh is planning to vaccinate one crore people in six days through a special drive from Aug 7 to 12.