The government on Thursday confirmed four new coronavirus cases in Bangladesh as the number is rising by the day. With the latest detection, the number stood at 18 including one death.
Director general for health services Prof Abul Kalam Azad briefing reporters on Thursday, however, said still those cases remained within the family members of the Europe returnees.
Three of the newly detected four patients are the members of the same family. One of them is a female of 22-year-old and the other two are males aged 32 and 65. One of their family members returned from Italy which is the worst-hit country in the world after China from where the virus emerged in December.
Another coronavirus infected was detected in Chuadanga, the district civil surgeon confirmed at an emergency press briefing at the district town. The government earlier on Wednesday stepped up its efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said he had instructed to prepare the Biswa Ijtema Ground at the outskirts of Dhaka for creating quarantine facilities.
The government is also opening coronavirus units in seven divisional headquarters outside Dhaka. The testing facilities will be expanded outside Dhaka in a week. The director general on Thursday once again assured that there will be no short supply of testing kits.
He warned against any lapse in home-quarantine which, he said, is the standard mechanism to prevent the spread from the expatriates who returned from the virus-hit countries. The health department asked the local administration to ensure the home-quarantine, violation of which is a punishable offence.
He also assured anxious doctors of providing necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) for attending patients.
“We’ll not give in a big lot. We’ll give them gradually. Once they finish the stock, we’ll refill that,” he said, asking them not to be worried.
“We are vowed to serve people and that’s why we are doctor. So we have to ensure the service,” he said, adding that they are managing 100,000 PPEs soon.
PPE include everything to cover the doctors from shoe cover to face mask to gowns. UNB adds, another young man tested positive for coronavirus in Chuadanga, raising the total number of corona cases to 18 in the country.
Dr ASM Maruf, the Civil Surgeon of the district and member secretary of the corona prevention committee, made the announcement in an emergency press briefing at his office.
He said the 30-year-old patient returned from Italy on March 12 and he was released from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after primary medical test.
Staying in Dhaka for two days, Maruf said, he returned to Chuadanga on March 14. As he developed the symptoms of coronavirus, he went to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital on March 16, Maruf added. Later, he was admitted to the corona unit of the hospital.
A team of Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) went to Chuadanga and collected samples which were taken to the IEDCR later. IEDCR confirmed that the patient was positive for coronavirus on Wednesday night, said the Civil Surgeon.
