Bangladesh registered 38 more Coronavirus-related deaths in  24 hours until Saturday morning,  pushing up the total fatalities to 12,549.

Besides, 1,043 more people came out positive in 13,184 sample tests carried out during the period.

The mortality rate remained static at 1.57 percent while the positivity rate declined  to 7.91 percent from Friday’s 9.30 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.

Among the deceased, eight died in Dhaka division, four in Chattogram, seven each in Rajshahi and Khulna, five in Sylhet, four in Rangpur, two in Mymensigh and one in Barishal.

With the news cases, the total caseload reached 7,93,386  while the total number of recoveries is 7,37,408, including 1,187 in the last 24 hours.

 

Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.

READ: Bangladesh loses 31 more lives to Covid-19

Vaccination drive

Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India's Serum Institute.

The administering of the first dose of the vaccine has remained suspended since April 26.

Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.

However, recently two other vaccines, Russia's Sputnik V and China's Sinopharm, got approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) for emergency use in Bangladesh.

The administering of the first doses of the Sinopharm vaccine started Tuesday.

READ: COVID-19: Bangladesh to receive over 1 lakh Pfizer vaccine on Sunday