A New Age file photo of Bangladeshis flown back to the country from Wuhan recently. — Sony Ramany

Two more COVID-19 patients were identified in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

With this, so far 10 people are tested positive of coronavirus infection in the country.

One of the newly infected patients, who came from abroad, was quarantined. The other patient was in contact with a person who came from abroad.

Sixteen others were kept in isolation and 43 on institutional quarantine.

Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, disclosed the matter at a press briefing in Dhaka.

The government on Monday announced the closure of all educational institutions across the country from March 18 till March 31 after detection of three more coronavirus cases that included two children.

The cabinet took the decision at its weekly meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at her Tejgaon.

The government also requested all foreign governments to extend safety and care to all Bangladesh nationals living in different countries to overcome coronavirus situation.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen made the request in a briefing for diplomats of different countries with resident missions in Dhaka.

The number of deaths around the world linked to the new coronavirus has topped 7,000— after Italy announced a new surge in fatalities, according to an AFP tally at 17:00 GMT on Monday.

A total of 7,007 people have died, with a 175,536 infections recorded globally.

European leaders are set to ban non-essential travel into the continent on Tuesday, the latest drastic attempt to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

China has the highest number of fatalities at 3,213, followed by Italy with 2,158 deaths and almost 28,000 cases.

However, World Health Organisation updates said on Tuesday morning the death toll was recorded 6,610 with 168,019 confirmed infections in 148 countries.