Bangladesh on Friday confirmed the detection of five more new coronavirus patients, raising the total number of such cases in the country to 61.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque made the disclosure at an online press briefing.

"The total number of coronavirus cases [in Bangladesh] is now 61. Five more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The good news is that no new patient has died while 26 people have recovered," he said.

However, no further details of these infected patients were revealed at the briefing.

The minister urged everyone to stay indoors and comply with the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "Please stay indoors and always maintain a safe distance," he said.

He emphasised that more tests are necessary to keep the spread under control.

"It’s very important to test everyone with symptoms to detect coronavirus infection. I urge everyone to come forward and get tested. It’ll protect you as well as your family," said Zahid Malek.

Assuring that there is ample supply of PPE and test-kits, the minister said the treatment of coronavirus patients is going on at government hospitals.

"We’ve come to know that some private hospitals or clinics are not providing treatment. I urge them to continue their activities. If not, we’ll take necessary steps," he added.

Zahid Malek reiterated that the media should refrain from spreading ‘false’ news.

"Many media are giving misleading news, spreading rumours. This is disrupting the government work. We call on the media to do positive news without creating panic," he said. 

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Five hundred and thirteen samples were collected from across the country in the last 24 hours.

Contact tracing is still ongoing of the five new patients as no information was available about the sources of their infection.

Director of the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Dr Abul Kalam Azad said, "We’ve found three of the five new patients outside of IEDCR Lab. We’re arranging their isolation and have started investigating their sources of infection."

In the past 24 hours, 547 more people have been sent to home quarantine while five are being institutionally quarantined.

Currently, 16,453 people are in quarantine across the country while 82 in isolation.

The DGHS Director revealed that 10 people have been released from isolation in the past 24 hours and 14 others sent to isolation throughout the country.