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BSS-32
COVID-19-BRIEFING LEAD
COVID-19 death toll crosses 100 mark in Bangladesh
(updates with more information)
DHAKA, April 20, 2020 (BSS) – The death toll from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Bangladesh spiked to 101 as the country reported 10 more deaths from the pandemic overnight, while it recorded 492 fresh positive cases, the highest so far in a single day.
“Ten more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 101,” Additional Director General (administration) of DGHS Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city.
She said the total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country has surged to 2948 as 492 more people tested positive for the lethal virus in the past 24 hours.
Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) Director Brigadier General Mohammad Shahidullah 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.
According to the DGHS COVID-19-infected tally, coronavirus cases have increased alarmingly in the country since April 6 as 2860 people tested positive for the super contagious disease in the last 15 days, while 88 cases were recorded from March 8.
Nasima said the total number of recovered patients has now stood at 85 as 10 patients were cured from the disease over the past 24 hours.
A total of 26,604 samples have so far been tested since the detection of first COVID-19 cases in the country, she said, adding 2,779 were tested in the past 24 hours, the highest in a single day.
The health official 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.
“Gazipur has been identified as a new hotspot for coronavirus as a large number of positive were found in Gazipur,” she said.
Nasima said among the 10 deaths, five are in Dhaka, four in Narayanganj and one in Narsingdi while eight are male and two female.
Among the fatalities, four are in their 60s, four in their 50s and 2 in their 40s, she said.
She said of the fresh cases detected in the past 24 hours, 20 percent were in Gazipur, 19.7 percent in Kishoreganj and six percent in Narsingdi. Without mentioning any specific figure instantly, Nasima hinted Dhaka and Narayanganj together have highest proportion of fresh cases.
In order to stem the community transmissions of COVID-19, the health official urged the law enforcement agencies and organizations concerned to take strict measures to make the nationwide shutdown more effective.
Nasima said 1,55,224 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and over 75,812 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who currently remain in quarantine is 75,047.
She said a total of 488 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 26,000 people in quarantine, adding 640 people have now been kept in isolation.
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.
The health official 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 CMSD director said during the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), they are giving priority to COVID hospitals, ICU doctors, PCR lab technicians, port screening authorities and field level sample collection workers.
He said the government has collected 1,467,040 PPE so far, among which 1,093,119 have been distributed and 373,921 are in stock.
Shahidullah said Bangladesh is producing 70 percent PPE while remaining 30 percent PPE are being imported from China.
Drug Administration is examining the standard of these PPE, he said, adding, “We are distributing these PPE to healthcare professionals after testing their quality to ensure the safety of the health workers.”
The CMSD director said everyday the government is collecting nearly one lakh PPE and of those, 60,000 to 70000 PPE are being distributed among healthcare providers. “By this month, the number of procurement of PPE will reach 20 lakh,” he informed.
The DGHS sources 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, they added.
They said till today, 29,13,707 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 20, 2020, 11:10 GMT, 165,890 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and there are currently 2,421,018 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.
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