The tally of infections has also soared to 70 after nine more people tested positive in the last 24 hours, according to data released by the health directorate on Saturday.

This is the biggest jump in positive tests over a 24-hour period since Bangladesh announced its first cases on Mar 8.

Four others have returned home after recovery, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 30.

The authorities collected 553 samples from across the country in the last 24 hours and tested 434, Abul Kalam Azad, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said in an online briefing.

One of the two patients who died in the last 24 hours was immediately diagnosed with the infection while the other was diagnosed earlier, said Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.

One of them was from Dhaka and the other was from outside. One of the dead was aged 90 while the other was 68. Both of them belonged to the vulnerable group and were already suffering from different conditions.

“One of them had gone through a stenting procedure for heart ailments. The other had suffered a stroke before he was infected.”

Among the new patients diagnosed with the coronavirus infections, eight tested positive at the IEDCR. The ninth was tested by a lab outside Dhaka and will go through a second test in the IEDCR.

At least five among the new patients came into contact with a coronavirus infected person, said the IEDCR director.

There are two children aged under 10 among the new patients, said Flora. Three of them are aged between 20 and 30 while two are in their 50s. One is a sexagenarian and the other is 90 years old.