Bangladesh today reported 264 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the pandemic began in March last year.

“The country logged 12,744 fresh cases in the past 24 hours meaning almost daily it has posted a minimum 10,000 cases since July 6,” Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in its routine daily statement.

An analysis of the official data suggests that 3,247 out of 12,744 COVID-19 positive cases were detected in Dhaka city alone in the past 24 hours while the virus claimed 47 out of 264 lives in the city during the same period.

The country reported 27.12 percent COVID-19 positive cases as 46,995 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, it added.

The official tally showed the virus killed 21,902 people and infected 13, 22,654 so far.

The recovery count rose to 11,56,943 after another 15,786 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the past one day.

The DGHS statistics showed of the people infected from the beginning 87.47 percent recovered, while 1.66 percent died.

The DGHS said among the total 21,902 fatalities, 9,887 deaths occurred in Dhaka division, 4,167 in Chattogram, 1,683 in Rajshahi, 2,930 in Khulna, 707 in Barishal, 825 in Sylhet, 1,102 in Rangpur and 601 in Mymensingh division.

It said Bangladesh’s COVID-19 confirmed cases crossed 5,000 mark on March 29, 2021, 6,000 mark on April 1, 2021, 7,000 mark on April 4, 2021, 8,000 mark on June 24, 2021, 9,000 mark on July 5, 11,000 mark July 6, 13,000 mark on July 12, 12,000 mark on July 13, 14,000 mark on July 27 and 16,000 mark on July 28.

According to month-wise statistics last year, 51 COVID-19 positive cases were detected in March 2020, 7616 in April, 39,486 in May, 98,330 in June, 92,178 in July, 75,335 in August, 50,483 in September, 44, 205 in October, 57,248 in November and 48,578 in December.

The beginning of the current year witnessed a drastic fall of coronavirus cases in the country but the trend lasted for only two months — 21,629 cases were detected in January and 11,077 in February.

After the drastic fall of COVID-19 confirmed cases, the country witnessed sharp increase of infection as 65,079 cases were reported in March, 2021 and 1,47,837 cases in April.

The country again witnessed a fall in May, 2021 as it recorded 41,408 cases. From the beginning of June, 2021, the country recorded a sharp rise with 1,12,718 cases, the DGHS said.