Bangladesh has recorded 257 new cases of COVID-19, raising the tally of infections to 1,949,055.

The death toll from the disease climbed by five in 24 hours to 29,105, according to the latest government data released on Friday. As many as 13,801 samples were tested across the country, for a positivity rate of 1.86 percent.

Among the eight divisions, Dhaka recorded the highest number of cases, with 170 infections. All five fatalities were also registered in the district. Another 2,399 people recovered from the illness nationwide, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,857,648.

The latest figures put the recovery rate at 95.31 percent and the mortality rate at 1.49 percent. Globally, over 453.52 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 6.03 million have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.