Bangladesh recorded its highest number of coronavirus cases on Monday when the health authorities reported 1,975 cases, detected within the last 24 hours.

The number of confirmed cases now stands at 35,585.

“During the period, 21 more people died from coronavirus, taking the local death tally to 501,” Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, the Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said at a regular online briefing.

Forty-eight labs across the country tested 9,451 samples in the last 24 hours.

Bangladesh confirmed its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.

The global death toll from coronavirus rose to 345,059 on Monday morning, according to the Centre for System Science and Engineering of the Johns Hopkins University.

The number of confirmed global cases has topped 5.4 million – 1.6 million of them in the US.

China, where the first coronavirus cases were reported, did not record any local transmission on its mainland on Sunday, the health authorities said Monday.

The World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.

Bangladesh government announced a general holiday from March 26 to contain the spread of the virus. The holidays have been extended until May 30. Public transport services will also remain suspended until then.

But amid the rising number of coronavirus cases, thousands of people left the capital for spending Eid-ul-Fitr holidays at home with their families.

Experts said they feared that this mass exodus will worsen the coronavirus situation in the country.