The number of confirmed coronavirus patients in Bangladesh surged to 112,306 on Sunday as the country registered 3,531 fresh cases in the last 24 hours.
Besides, 39 more people died from Covid-19 during the period. Among the fatalities, 35 were male and four were female, the health directorate said.
With the latest, the death toll from the lethal disease now stands at 1,464.
Nasima Sultana, additional director general (admin) at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), disclosed the information while briefing the media live on the daily Covid-19 bulletin at 2:30pm.
The fresh coronavirus infections were found after testing a total of 15, 585 samples in 60 labs across the country, she said.
Besides, 1,084 patients have recovered during the period under review, pushing the tally to 45,077.
The densely populated nation of around 170 million first confirmed its coronavirus cases and deaths in March and since March 26 enforced a 66-day shutdown in parallel with its general holidays in a bid to slow the coronavirus spread.
As the number of cases continued to increase even during those days of shutdown, the target of slowing the spread, much less of flattening the curve, remained unachieved.
Now, amid a spike in coronavirus cases since May 31, when the government eased its lockdown, areas have been categorised as red, green and yellow zones based on the rate of virus infections and deaths.
The national committee for tackling the coronavirus outbreak has declared seventeen areas under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), 28 areas under Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), 11 areas in Chattogram, Sadar, Rupganj and Araihazar upazilas of Narayanganj, Narsingdi Model and Madhabdi thanas, Palash upazila in Narsingdi district and all upazilas of Gazipur district as Red zones.
The government has also decided that troops will increase patrols in those areas.
However, the authorities say it will take some time to enforce lockdowns in the red zones after completing all preparations.
A general holiday will be enforced in the coronavirus hotspots.
Globally, 8,932,222 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 467,021 people died as of Sunday noon, according to the worldometer.
Of them, 3,715,572 are currently being treated with 54,511 remain in serious or critical condition.
So far, 4,749,629 people have recovered.