Five more people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 disease in Bangladesh, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 44, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Thursday.
However, four more patients have recovered from the disease. With these, a total of 11 people have fully recovered from the virus.
IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora revealed the latest coronavirus figures through an online press briefing.
“In the past 24 hours, the IEDCR has tested 126 samples raising the total to 920. Of the 126 tested people, five new patients have been diagnosed with the disease. So, the total number of cases is 44. However, four patients have made the full recovery. Currently, 11 people have recovered from the disease and the death toll remains the same,” she said.
Of the five newly-infected ones , one is an imported case, three came in contact with infected patients and information about another is still unavailable.
“We’re still processing data to confirm the source of his infection,” said Prof Flora.
She mentioned that all the 60 newly-infected people are male. “Two of them aged between 30 to 40, two between 40 to 50 and one is aged above 60.”
One of the five new patients also has comorbidities as Prof Flora said.
The IEDCR Director informed that testing procedure to diagnose the disease has started in a few other hospitals across the country.
“Apart from the IEDCR, we’ve extended the PCR testing method to Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Public Health Institution and BITIT in Chattogram. Gradually, this facility will be extended to divisional level,” she said.
The IEDCR will soon launch district-level hotline numbers to help people contact it easily.
Prof Flora also said samples will be collected from wider range of citizens from now on.
“So far, we’ve been testing people returning from abroad and their relatives who are showing symptoms. However, we’ll be expanding our sample collection and testing areas,” she said.
“Within two to one days, local hospitals will start collecting samples and send those to the IEDCR and other local institutions for testing,” said Prof Flora.
She urged all who left Dhaka within the past few days to be aware and not to spread the disease.
“Those who’ve left Dhaka must act like those who’ve come from abroad and stay indoors to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread even if you get infected during the journey,” she said.
In the past 24 hours, the IEDCR hotlines have received 3,321 calls.
source: UNB
