The number of tests are about half of those conducted on the previous day. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 36,751.

"Twenty-one patients died during this period, taking the death tally to 522,” Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, the Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said at a regular briefing.

“The infection rate in the country has been recorded at 21.56 percent on Tuesday,” she said.

Bangladesh has seen a spurt in daily coronavirus cases since mid-April. At that time, the health authorities declared the whole of country vulnerable to infection and imposed heavy restrictions on movement.

Most deaths in Dhaka

Among the deaths reported today, 14 were male and seven were female. Fifteen of them died in Dhaka division, four in Chattogram division and two in Barishal division, she said.

Ten of the victims died in Dhaka district – three in the capital city.

Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Manikganj, Gazipur, Cox's Bazar, Pirojpur and Jhalakathi districts recorded one death each. Two died in Chattogram and two other in Cumilla district.

Twenty of the deceased died at hospitals and another at home.

Prof Nasima said one of the victims was aged 10.

Among other deceased, one was aged between 11 and 20 years, two between 31 and 40, five between 41 and 50, seven between 51 and 60, three between 61 and 70, one between 71 and 80, and another was aged between 81 and 90.

245 patients recover

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

"In the last 24 hours, 245 coronavirus patients made full recovery in the country," Prof Nasima said, adding that so far 7,579 people have recovered. 

 Across the country, 182 more people were taken to isolation during this period. Currently, there are 4,770 people in isolation. Another 2,452 people were sent to home and institutional quarantine. 

In late March, the government shut down all non-essential services and announced a general holiday to contain the transmission of the virus, first reported in China in December last year.

But health experts expressed concerns over the decision to allow people to travel to their home districts during the Eid holidays, fearing that it will worsen the coronavirus situation in the coming days.

Global scenario
 
Globally, the number of confirmed cases inched closer to 5.5 million on Tuesday and the death toll climbed to 346,232, according to the Centre for System Science and Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University.
 
Among the countries, the US has been the worst-hit with the highest recorded deaths of 98,220 patients and about 1.7 million confirmed cases.
 
The UK has the second-highest death toll at 36,996, followed by Italy (32,877), France (28,460) and Spain (26,834), according to Johns Hopkins University.
 
Brazil now has the second-highest number of confirmed cases (374,898).
 
Some countries like China and New Zealand seem to have the pandemic under control. Besides, Europe is in the process of lifting lockdown, but in the Americas, the pandemic is still in full swing - especially in South America.
 
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.