Covid-19 death toll nears 6,000
103 doctors have died in Bangladesh since the Covid-19 pandemic began
Bangladesh has confirmed 18 more deaths from the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours till Saturday at 8am.
The country's death toll from the virus now stands at 5,923, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
In the meantime, 1,320 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and the number of cases in the country now stands at 407,684.
The latest day's infection rate was 11.45% of the total tests, though the overall rate in the country to date is 17.45%. The death rate stands at 1.45%.
Among the day's victims, 12 were men and six were women who passed away in different hospitals across the country, according to a press release issued by the DGHS.
Moreover, 13 of them hailed from Dhaka division, two each from Chattogram and Khulna, and one from Sylhet.
Meanwhile, 11,532 samples were tested in 113 labs across the country in the past 24 hours. A total of 23,36,262 samples have been tested in the country so far.
Also, 1,442 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the same period, raising the total number of recoveries to 3,24,145 with a 79.51% recovery rate.
A gender breakdown of the total deceased shows that 4,553 were men and 1,370 were women.
The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March this year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March.
Another doctor has died of Covid-19
Dr MA Jalil, a former principal of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, died of Covid-19 on Thursday.
He breathed his last at 12.20am while undergoing treatment at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka, read a press release issued by the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA).
He was 80 years old at the time of his death.
According to the BMA, 103 doctors have died of the novel coronavirus nationwide.