DHAKA, April 19, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today reported 7 more deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and 306 fresh positive cases overnight.
“Seven more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 91,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city through joining it online.
The minister said the total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country has climbed to 2456 as 312 more people tested positive for the lethal virus during the time.
Additional Director General (administration) of DGHS Prof Nasima Sultana also addressed the briefing.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death in the country on March 18, ten days after detection of its first COVID-19 positive cases.
The health minister said the total number of recovered patients has now stood at 75 as nine patients were cured from the disease over the past 24 hours.
A total of 23,825 samples have been tested since the detection of first COVID-19 cases in the country on March 8, he said, adding 2634 were tested in the past 24 hours, the highest in a single day.
Maleque said coronavirus positive cases have sharply increased in Gazipur, Mymensingh, Munshiganj, Chattogram, Narsingdi and Keraniganj. He dubbed Dhaka and Narayanganj COVID-19 “hotspots” as the maximum number of cases were detected in the two cities.
The health minister said in Dhaka city, Mirpur, Basabo, Mohammadpur and Jatrabari are the most COVID-19 infected-prone areas.
“Infected people of these areas are moving to the unaffected regions, causing community transmission from the virus across the country,” he said.
Maleque added: “Such careless and unnecessary movements of the people from one place to another are the main reasons for spreading of the super contagious disease.”
In order to offset the community transmissions of COVID-19, the minister said, authorities concerned, particularly the law enforcement agencies, will have to take strict measures to make the nationwide shutdown more effective.
Maleque said as part of increasing medical facilities for COVID-19 patients, the government is preparing Mugda Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital for the treatment of the coronavirus patients.
Apart from the two hospitals, he said, the government has prepared 200-bed hospital at all eight divisions in the country for COVID-19 treatment.
“We’ve have also prepared hospital with 50 to 100-bed capacity at district level for coronavirus treatment,” the health minister said.
“We’re also working on an urgent basis to prepare both government and private hospitals as dedicated ones for COVID-19 patients in the country,” he added.
Referring to the opinions of health experts, Maleque said “oxygen bottles” are most effective for treatment of the COVID-19 patients. “There are nearly 10,000 oxygen bottles in country, while a process is underway to procure 3500 more oxygen bottles,” he said.
Nasima said among the seven deaths, three are in Dhaka and four in Narayanganj.
Of the total 312 positive cases, 23 percent patients were in their 30s and 22.3 percent in their 21s, she said, adding among them 66 percent are male and 34 percent are female.
The health official said of the fresh cases detected in the past 24 hours, 44 percent were in Dhaka, 31 percent in Narayanganj and the rest in different parts in the country.
Nasima said 1,24,135 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and over 71,000 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who currently remain in quarantine is 51,000.
She said a total of 488 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 26,000 people in quarantine, adding a total of 640 kept in isolation.
According to the DGHS COVID-19-infected tally, coronavirus cases have increased in the country sharply since April 12 as 139 positive cases were confirmed on April 12, 182 on April 13, 209 on April 14, 219 on April 15, 341 on April 16, 266 on April 17, 306 on April 18 and 312 on April 19.
It added 20,506 samples have been tested since April 7 and 2,333 COVID-19 positive cases out of the total infected tally of 2,456 were detected during the same time.
Nasima said in case of critical COVID-19 patients, special facilities including oxygen, ICU and dialysis units are needed in hospitals, “At present, the country has 192 ICUs and 40 dialysis units,” she said.
The health official said the government has intensified its efforts including collection of protective equipment such as PPE and surgical masks alongside increasing medical facilities for coronavirus patients.
Terming PPE as a very “essential protective gear” for medical professionals, Nasima said 8000 PPE are needed every day for sample collection of COVID-19-linked cases as each sample collection requires four PPE.
“All health organizations and hospitals should properly examine the standard of PPE to ensure safety of healthcare professionals,” she said.
Nasima said as part of taking preventative measures to stop imported cases of COVID-19, the authorities of all gateways, including airports, land ports and waterways, are continuing screening of all foreign returnees.
The health official said the government by now prepared 7,693 isolation beds at different hospitals in the country to be run under a 23-point health guideline prescribing isolation and quarantine arrangements, PPE usage and hygienic environment.
She said till today, 28,20,348 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.
The contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222 – to receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19.
As of April 19, 2020, 11:20 GMT, 161,126 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and there are currently 2,347,778 confirmed cases in 210 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.
China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.