The caseload climbed to 498,293 after 1,318 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8 am Friday, according to data released by the government. As many as 14,336 samples were tested at 159 authorised labs in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 9.19 percent. The latest official figures put the recovery rate at 87.02 percent while the mortality rate stands at 1.45 percent. Globally, over 74.98 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 1.66 million have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

Source: bd News24 December 18, 2020 10:07 UTC