DHAKA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The mortality from tuberculosis continued to fall over the last decade in Bangladesh, with the annual death toll coming down to 40,000 in recent years, half the figure 10 years ago, said Bangladeshi health minister Zahid Malek.

"Ten years ago, up to 80,000 people died of tuberculosis every year. This has now come down to 40,000," Zahid Malek said at a workshop on Wednesday, according to a report by Bangladeshi leading private news agency UNB.

He said that around 97 percent of tuberculosis (TB) patients are getting well by taking medicines regularly.

The death of 40,000 people by this disease is not a good sign during this era of health development, the minister said at the workshop on the government's Community Right and Gender Action Plan 2021-23 for TB.

"It means more than 100 people died of tuberculosis a day while we remain concerned about one or two deaths by the COVID-19 virus. This is very alarming. Our all ministries will have to work jointly to bring the figure to zero level," he said.