DHAKA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- With COVID-19 cases surging again, private and public testing facilities in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka are now witnessing an unprecedented rush of patients.
Long queues were seen Sunday at one of the largest testing centers in Dhaka, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where tests are conducted at a nominal fee.
In the past week, queues are also getting longer outside many other private and public facilities, which share RTPCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) results within 12 hours.
A total of 29,305 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh at the private and government facilities, after 24,028 on Saturday, the official data showed.
Bangladesh reported 5,222 new COVID-19 cases and eight new deaths on Sunday, bringing the tally to 1,617,711 and death toll to 28,144, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
On Saturday, the country reported 3,447 new cases. The cases have been rising remarkably in Bangladesh since the beginning of this month with offices, businesses and transport services in the country staying open.
Bangladeshi authorities on Thursday started to impose stringent rules to combat a fresh spike in COVID-19 infections.
In parts of Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, mobile courts initiated drives and fined those violating the restrictions.
On Monday, Bangladesh's Cabinet Division issued a circular with 11-point directives to be effective from Thursday until further notice.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urged unvaccinated people to get jabbed to protect lives from the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony online, Hasina said the Omicron variant is spreading fast and families are getting infected, calling on all people in the country to follow the health protocols properly and abide by the latest directives issued by the authorities.
According to the official data, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.74 percent and the current recovery rate is 95.99 percent.
The total number of recovered patients in the country stood at 1,552,893 including 293 new recoveries, said the DGHS.
Bangladesh recorded the highest daily new cases of 16,230 on July 28 last year and the highest number of 264 deaths twice on Aug. 5 and Aug. 10, 2021. ■