Coronavirus death toll passes 1,500

The death toll from coronavirus in Bangladesh has passed 1,500 as 38 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The number of total deaths now stands at 1,502.

In the last 24 hours, 15,555 samples were examined and out of them 3,480 got positive results for the virus. Besides, 1,678 more recovered from the disease, raising the total number to 46,755, Professor Dr Nasima Sultana, Additional Director General of Health Directorate, said in the daily online health briefing on Monday.

Bangladesh reported its first three cases of COVID-19 on March 8. 

The new coronavirus pandemic first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year.

The World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.

The deadly virus spread to 213 countries and territories, killing some 470,981 people globally, according to Worldometer, a website which compiles number of new coronavirus cases and deaths from it.

As many as 9,064,749 people worldwide caught the virus. Among them, 4,849,164 people recovered from the virus, the website said.