Bangladesh: Virus deaths near 2,000 as infections rise

The coronavirus death toll in Bangladesh is now just shy of 2,000, while cases are almost at 160,000, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Authorities recorded 29 more fatalities-21 men and eight women-over the past day, bringing the total to 1,997 and the death rate to 1.25%.

Of the total fatalities so far, 1,587 are men and 410 women, a ministry official said.

The country's COVID-19 cases increased by 3,288 over the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 159,679.

Recoveries have now reached 70,721-a recovery rate of 44.29%-with 2,673 additions over the past day.

With 14,727 more samples tested over the same period, the number of tests conducted in Bangladesh has reached 832,074-19.19% of the samples have tested positive for the virus.

The Health Ministry official said hospitals across the country are well-equipped and still have much less patients than their capacity.

She said there are still more than 6,000 general and 149 intensive care beds available in the capital Dhaka, and over 14,700 general and 400 intensive care beds in the rest of Bangladesh.