The number of confirmed coronavirus patients continued to soar in Bangladesh as the health authorities reported 552 new cases and five deaths in the last 24 hours until Saturday morning.

So far, the confirmed cases stand at 8,790 with 175 deaths.

"All five deceased are from Dhaka. Three of them were male are two female,” Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said at the daily online briefing.

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In the last 24 hours, 6,193 samples were collected and 5,827 of them were tested.

"We found 9.4 percent of the tested samples positive,” she said.

During this period, three patients recovered.
 

Across the country, 168 people were taken to isolation and 1,543 were quarantined in the past 24 hours. 

Dhaka division recorded the highest number (83.07 percent) of the total confirmed cases, she said.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18. The government announced a general holiday from March 26 and urged people to stay indoors to curb the transmission of the virus.

But the situation continued to worsen, forcing the government to extend the shutdown in phases to May 5. State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB that the government has decided to extend the holiday again till May 16 to contain the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus, first reported in China in December last year, has infected 3,400,767 people globally, according to worldometer. Of them, 2,079,587 are currently being treated and 51,355 among them are in serious or critical condition.

So far, 1,081,592 people have recovered from COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11. COVID-19 is affecting 212 countries and territories around the world.