DHAKA, March 31, 2020 (BSS) – Two more new coronavirus (Covid-19) positive cases were detected in the country over the last 24 hours, while no death was reported after March 25, according to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
“Two more people have tested positive with coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country in the past 24 hours, taking the number of the confirmed cases to 51,” IEDCR director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora told a virtual media briefing at her Mohakhali office here today.
Among the two newly-infected Covid-19 cases, she said, both are males and one aged 57 has returned from Saudi Arabia, while the infected history of another patient aged 55 could not be known yet.
“Both the patients are suffering from non-commutable diseases, and their health condition is now stable, Dr Flora said, adding they are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The IEDCR director said after confirmation of the novel coronavirus cases in the country, the number of recovered patients has stood at 25.
“Five people have so far died since the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country,” she said.
In the last 24 hours, Prof Flora said, six Covid-19-infected people have recovered, and among them, one is 70-year-old and the age of four patients is between 30 to 40 and another’s age is between 40 to 50.
“It proves that the Covid-19-infected people of ageing group can get recovered,” the IEDCR director said.
“We observed that Covid-19-infected patients have taken maximum 16 days for their recovery…. we provide treatment to them as per their symptoms,” she said.
Prof Flora said IEDCR teams are collecting samples from different hospitals for detecting coronavirus case, and from now on both government and private hospitals will send samples to the IEDCR.
As part of the precautionary measures, she reiterated her call to follow “social distancing” alongside maintaining individual hygienic habits to limit the spread of the Covid-19.
The IEDCR top official also advised the people to strictly follow the directives, particularly to ‘stay at home’, given by the government and others to stem the spread of the disease.
“As part of the countrywide measures, we have set up control rooms at the district level to ensure quick access of the people to healthcare facilities” Dr Flora said.
The IEDCR director said foreign countries, including China and Singapore, as well as different development partners and local companies and organizations are providing various protective equipment and hygienic materials for testing coronavirus and containing its spread.
“We’ve so far tested 1602 samples with 140 samples in the last 24 hours. The number of total people kept in isolation was 75, and among them, 38 were kept under institutional quarantine” Dr Flora said.
The IEDCR director urged the people to call only the two numbers – 01944333222 and 10655 – which will connect to the other toll-free numbers.
“We’ll have to avoid going outside, most importantly wherever there is a chance of coming in contact with unknown people,” she further said.
Dr Flora said the people can get their required Covid-19-related information through e-mail [email protected] and facebook account-Iedcr.
At the press briefing, Dr Md Habibur Rahman, director (management information system) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said the government has formed a group of medical professionals comprising 10,802 physicians to provide medicare services to the people.
“They’re voluntarily providing treatment to the people,” he added.
Dr Rahman urged the people to contact hotline numbers of IEDCR and the Ministry of Health alongside visiting health web portal to receive Covid-19-related treatment facilities.
“We’re expanding testing laboratory facilities to divisional level… we hope that we’ll be able to carry out sample tests of Covid-19 there within few days,” he said
Dr Rahman pointed out that the country has sufficient logistic equipment, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and kits.
“We’ve already distributed 3,34,214 PPE at different hospitals of the country and we’ve enough stock of such essential protective gear,” he said.
As of March 31, 39,025 people have died so far from the Covid-19 outbreak, and there are currently 803,011 confirmed cases in 201 countries and territories, according to media reports.