Yangon, Oct 31 (IANS): The number of Covid-19 cases has risen to 4,99,321 in Myanmar after 716 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to a release from the Ministry of Health on Saturday.

The daily test positivity rate was registered at 3.82 per cent on Saturday and over 4.84 million samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far, the release said.

With 20 new deaths, the death toll has increased to 18,664 while a total of 4,66,317 patients have recovered from Covid-19 as of Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Myanmar's Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment for Covid-19 on Saturday announced the extension of the period for anti-pandemic measures to the end of November.

The extension will be applied to all orders, announcements, directives previously issued by the respective union level government organizations and ministries in order to contain the spread of the viral disease, the announcement said.