Another person was diagnosed with COVID-19 in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 49, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) said on Monday.
“In the past 24 hours, IEDCR has tested 153 samples and 1338 people have been tested so far. Total 49 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus. So, in the past 24 hours, another person has been infected,” IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said at an online press briefing.
Meanwhile, she said, four more patients have recovered. Three of them are above 60 while the newly-infected patient is a female aged around 20.
“Among the four recovered people, two are aged above 60 and one is aged above 80. One of them received treatment at home,” said Prof Flora adding that 19 coronavirus patients have recovered till date.
Thirty-six people have been released from institutional quarantine in the past 24 hours and 32 are still in quarantine and 62 are in isolation, she said.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque also joined the briefing and answered questions from media people.
He announced that 17 more labs will be set up for testing coronavirus infection.
“We’ve decided we’ll set up 17 more new labs. We’ve increased the scope of tests … I would urge every healthcare worker at this time to work from wherever they are,” he said.
“WHO appreciated our actions and so did the Secretary General of the United Nations … we would like to see no-one left out of treatment in our country,” the minister added.
He reiterated that media should not publish news that creates panic among people and claimed that there is no shortage of medical equipment in the country.
“Don’t give any information that may create panic among public…we’ve no lack of treatment facilities, no shortage of kits. We’ve also made adequate arrangements for testing and our PPE supply is no longer falling short,” he said.
According to IEDCR officials, they have over 41,000 PPEs in stock at the moment as they are working with a target of stocking 1000,000 PPEs. The total number of test-kits available now is over 72,000.
In the past 24 hours, IEDCR hotlines received 3,997 calls regarding the coronavirus.
Coronavirus, first reported in China in December last year, is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed five deaths.
The global death toll climbed to 33,993 on Monday, according to Worldometer.UNB
