Health Correspondent
Bangladesh recorded 17 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 528 fresh cases overnight.

The recovery count rose to 4,77,935 after another 509 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said on Wednesday.

“Seventeen more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 8,072,” the release said.

It said the tally of infections has surged to 5,33,444 as 528 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

A total of 15,720 samples were tested at 200 authorized laboratories across the country during the time.

Of the total sample tests in the past 24 hours, 3.36 percent tested positive, while 14.82 percent cases were detected from the total tests conducted so far, the release added.

Among the total infections, 89.59 percent patients have recovered, while 1.51 percent died so far since the first COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the country on March 8.

Among the 17 deaths, eight are male and nine female the press release said, adding one is in his 30s, two are in their 40s, five in their 50s while nine are above 60 years.

According to the division-wise data, thirteen deaths took place in Dhaka division and rests are in other divisions.

Among the total 8,072 fatalities, 4,492 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 1,485 in Chattogram division, 460 in Rajshahi division, 547 in Khulna division, 242 in Barishal division, 301 in Sylhet division, 356 in Rangpur division and 189 in Mymensingh division, according to the press release.

A total of 36,00,508 samples have so far been tested since the detection of the first COVID-19 cases in the country.

The DGHS said in order to make treatment facilities easily available for the COVID-19 patients, the government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 100 physicians for round the clock in the country.

A total of 7,08,332 people have so far received healthcare services from telemedicine.

The DGHS said 2,34,67,429 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency healthcare services.

To receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19, the contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.

As of January 27, 2021, 11:06 GMT, 2,169,461 people have died so far from the COVID-19 outbreak and there are currently 100,921,666 confirmed cases in 212 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.

China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.