DHAKA, April 4, 2020 (BSS) – Two more coronavirus (Covid-19) patients died in the country overnight, raising the death toll to eight, while nine more new Covid-19 positive cases were detected during the period , Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) said today.
“Two more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, while the number of coronavirus cases has stood at 70 as nine more people have been infected by the lethal virus,” IEDCR Director Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora told a virtual media briefing at Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) in the city.
Director General of DGHS Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad also addressed the briefing.
Prof Flora informed that among the 70 coronavirus-infected patients, 30 have so far recovered and 32 are undergoing treatment.
“Twenty patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals and 12 are under treatment at their homes,” she added.
The IEDCR director said among the newly Covid-19 cases, two were children, while three were in their 20s, two in 50s, one 60s and another one is 90s.
Describing the infected history of nine fresh cases, she said five have been infected by contracting Covid-19 patients, two came from abroad, but the infected history of two others is yet to be known.
Prof Azad said, “We collected 553 samples from across the country in the last 24 hours, and tested 424 samples.”
He reiterated that the country has sufficient logistic equipment, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and kits.
“We’ve so far collected 4, 28,060 PPE, and of them, 3, 66,650 PPE were distributed at different hospitals of the country, while the remaining are in stock,” he said.
The country had 92,000 test kits, of which 21,000 were distributed at different hospitals, the DG said, adding one lakh more kits will be collected by Wednesday next.
Prof Azad said: “We’ve arranged two types of quarantine – one is home quarantine and another one is institutional quarantine. A total of 64,953 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine.”
“Of them, 260 were kept at institutional quarantine,” he added.
The DG said 72 people have now been kept at isolation, while 328 released from isolation.
Prof Azad said the government has formed a group of medical professionals comprising 12,779 physicians to provide medicare services to the people. “They’re providing healthcare services through online,” he added.
The DG said the government has opened hotlines and health web portal for providing healthcare services to the people.
He urged the people to contact hotline and mobile numbers – 16263, 333, 10655 and 01944333222 – to receive information and treatment facilities on Covid-19.