The government is bolstering its preparations to fight off the novel coronavirus with the increasing number of cases.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday while announcing the newly detected 112 cases said they would open 2000-bed isolation unit at the Bashundhara Convention Center in Dhaka.
The Bashundhara Group earlier offered the center to the government to use as field facility.
“We are preparing that. It’ll be prepared in 10 to 15 days,” the minister said.
Apart from that, he said, they will convert a new market of Dhaka North City Corporation into a 1400-bed isolation unit.
Four multistoried buildings at Diyabari, Uttara will also be turned into 1200-bed isolation units, he said, asking people not to be panic.
“We are taking adequate preparations. Please stay at home and follow the government instructions”.
He also asked people to test their conditions if they feel ill. “We are expanding testing facilities across Bangladesh. So far 16/17 centers are open for testing”.
Besides, he said they are also increasing the number of ventilators which are needed for the severely ill patients’ oxygen therapy.
“We have over 550 ventilators. We are buying 380 more,” he said.
The Bangladesh Private Medical College Association also announced to keep their hospital services open for round the clock.
“Please don’t be confused. We have 69 private medical college hospitals. We are open 24-hour for all sorts of treatment,” General Secretary of the Association Dr Md Enamur Rahman, also State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief, said appearing in the online briefing.
There have been reports that private facilities denied access to the patients with simple fever or cough fearing coronavirus.
The total number of cases stood at 330 in Bangladesh. Of them 21 died and 33 made complete recoveries.
