DHAKA — A government minister in Bangladesh has died of COVID-19, German press agency, DPA, quoted officials as saying on Sunday.

Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, 75, the state minister for religious affairs, died soon after he was rushed to Dhaka's Combined Military Hospital on Saturday night, his personal aide Nazmul Haque Shaikat said.

Ministry spokesman Anwar Hossain said the physicians collected a sample after Abdullah was declared dead and he was tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Hossain said, referring to the test report available on Sunday.

Abdullah is the first government minister to die of the virus in Bangladesh. Two other ministers of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Cabinet are undergoing treatment for coronavirus.

Bangladesh, which reported its first three cases of the deadly virus in March, has since reported more than 88,000 infections with more than 1,100 deaths as of Saturday. — WAM