<span style="color: black;">The death toll due to COVID 19 in Bangladesh crossed 13,000 on Friday with 43 deaths being reported over the last 24 hours. During this period, 2454 fresh corona cases were also reported in the country. The death toll in Bangladesh due to COVID now stands at 13,032 and the total infection is over 8.22 lakh since the first case was detected in March last year.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">The sample positivity rate also continued to be over 13 percent for the second consecutive day on Friday. Several areas in Bangladesh are reporting very high sample positivity rates causing concern about the spread of the virus in the country. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">Natore sadar and municipality under the Rajshahi division, reported a 62 percent positivity rate on Thursday while the overall infection in the district was over 53 percent. Rajshahi town has been put under lockdown from Friday till June 17. The train services from Rajshahi to the rest of the country has also been suspended in view of the high infection rate in the district. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen announced in Dhaka on Friday that Bangladesh will soon receive over 1 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID 19 vaccine under the COVAX programme of WHO. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">The Chinese embassy in Dhaka also announced that 6 lakh doses of the Sinopharm COVID 19 vaccine are ready for delivery to Bangladesh as a gift very soon.</span><br />''  <br />