Bangladesh reported seven more deaths from the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total death cases at 8,496.

Some 1,018 people tested positive for Covid-19 over the same period and the number of novel coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 553,105.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) confirmed the latest development issuing a press release on Wednesday afternoon.

The latest day’s infection rate was 5.98% of the total tests, though the overall rate in the country till date was 13.18%. The death rate stands at 1.54%.

Meanwhile, 17,299 samples were tested in 219 labs across the country in the past 24 hours. A total of 4,197,970 samples have been tested in the country so far.

Also, 1,264 patients were declared free of Covid-19 during the same period, raising the total number of recoveries to 506,613 with a 91.59% recovery rate.