DHAKA, March 11, 2020 (BSS) – Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR) today said three out of two coronavirus patients in the country have been cured and will be released from the hospital soon.
“Today, we would give good news about the three coronavirus patients. We were diagnosing the three daily as per the directions of World Health Organization (WHO) and did not find traces of coronavirus in two of them for two consecutive days. So, as per WHO standard, we can say they have been cured and would be discharged from hospital soon,” (IEDCR) Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora said at a briefing.
IEDCR Principal Scientific Officer Dr ASM Alamgir was also present at the briefing at Mohakhali office in the city.
About the third coronavirus patient, Dr Flora said although doing well, the third one is still positive to the virus.
The IEDCR chief said the three patients had little symptoms of the virus and were not in that serious condition, adding, “But as they were the first positive coronavirus cases in the country, we did not want to take any risk and rushed them to hospital.”
IEDCR, the country’s state-run disease monitoring institution, has been holding daily briefing at its Mohakhali office to inform people about the latest updates on the deadly virus in and outside the country.
“We have so far tested samples of total 142 persons. Eight persons were isolated yesterday. Of them, four have been released and four new persons have been isolated. So, we can say a total of eight persons are in isolation right now,” she said.
Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora further said her agency has received five new thermal scanners as gift from a company.
She urged people to dial 01944333222 for any kind of information about coronavirus.
Dr Flora reiterated her call for self quarantine in case of any little symptoms of the virus and said though no new cases of coronavirus was found in the country, we have to be alert. But there is no reason to be panicked.
The IEDCR director repeatedly emphasised on raising awareness, saying without awareness and practising the good habits, there is mainly no other way to tackle this deadly virus as of yet.
“I would like to urge all the recent foreign returnees to remain in self-quarantine for 14 days. Do it for the sake of yourself, your loved ones, society and the country. Do not go outside without any emergency, if you have to go, please wear masks,” she said yesterday.
Earlier on March 8, IEDCR confirmed three Bangladeshis, two male and one female, detected with coronavirus (COVID-19). Among the three, two of them had returned from Italy recently, she said on that day.