Twenty-one more people died from Covid-19 in past 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, said a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services.

With this, the total number of deaths rose to 6,215, while the death rate stood at 1.43 percent.

Another 2,139 new cases were recorded in the same 24 hours, taking the number of positive cases to 4,34,472, said the release.

This was the highest number of cases reported in a single day in the last 70 days. Also, this was a major jump from the second-highest count of 1,845 cases reported on Thursday.

On September 7, some 2,202 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the country. Since then, the daily infection count had been decreasing gradually.

Against yesterday's 15,768 tests conducted in 115 labs across the country, the positivity rate was 13.57 percent, while the overall positivity rate stood at 16.99 percent.

At least 1,604   Covid-19 patients recovered in the same 24 hours.

With this, the total number of recoveries rose to 3,51,146, while the recovery rate stood at 80.82 percent.

Among yesterday's 21 deceased, 15 were males and six females. Twenty of them died in hospitals, said the release.

One was aged between 51 and 60, six were between 41 and 50, and the rest were above 60 years, added the release.

For a month, experts, as well as policymakers, had been speculating further spike of Covid-19 infections ahead of the cold weather. Many countries across Europe and America have already imposed virus curb measures in the face of the second wave of coronavirus infection.

Against this backdrop, the government has recently announced a "no mask, no service" policy in all public and private organisations. The announcement, however, has remained a mere announcement except for a few initiatives in some places.

Yesterday, the cabinet decided that measures would be taken soon so that people wear facemasks in the capital.