Most of the COVID-19 patients are taking treatment staying at home, according the government data. “Nearly 500 people have received treatment from hospitals, which is less than 30 percent of the total patients. Only 1.8 percent people have been taken to ICUs,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque said at the daily bulletin on Friday.
Bangladesh confirmed 1838 cases of as Friday including 75 deaths and 58recoveries. Director of the government’s disease monitoring agency, IEDCR, Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said that most of the COVID-19 patients can take treatment staying at home as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
So far, she said 68 percent patients are currently taking treatment from home. “Of the 32 percent, many of them were hospitalized due to the social pressure,” she said, urging all to come forward and help in this regard. “Most of the patients can take treatment from home since the symptoms are mild,” she said.
“If all people come to the hospital, then the facilities would be overburdened and those who need hospitals really would not get proper services,” she said, adding that government is giving treatment guideline through 16263. Referring to the WHO’s instructions, the IEDCR director said mild infected patients should take treatment from their homes and they must stay at home isolation.
In such cases, family members have to maintain safe distancing from the patients, she said. Analyzing the history of COVID-19 cases, she said rampant movements of coronavirus patients are mainly responsible for the spread of the virus. The IEDCR director called upon all to stay at home alongside following hygienic practices including washing hands with soap and covering cough and sneezes.
She said most of the patients were within the 21 year to 30 years age group. “If we look at the age group of the most affected people, you’ll find that 21 percent of total infected people are aged between 21 to 30 years,” she said, followed by 19 percent between 41 to 50 years and 15 percent between 41 to 50 years. Of the total, 68 percent are male and 32 percent female. Most of the infected people are from Dhaka.
“46 percent are from Dhaka and 20 percent from Narayanganj. Gazipur, Chattogram, and Munshiganj are also seeing the rising number of patients,” she said, analyzing the patients’ data. The highest cases in Dhaka are reported from Mirpur area.
“Eleven percent of the total patients in Dhaka are from Mirpur, especially Tollarbag area, has seen the highest number of infections. Mohammadpur, Wari and Jatrabari areas have 4 percent patients whereas Uttara and Dhanmondi areas have 3 percent patients,” she said.
