Covid 19: Frontline medical staff infections grow
Bangladesh reports 418 more new cases with 5 deaths in last 24 hours. Infections surge alarmingly among frontline medical personnel
Coronavirus infections in Bangladesh crossed the 5,000 mark as the health directorate reported 418 new cases after testing 3,473 samples in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With five more deaths, the death tally rose to 145 while the number of total infected people reached at 5,416.
"There is a large number of doctors, nurses, technicians, cleaners and drivers in the new infection cases," Additional Director General Dr Nasima Sultana of the health directorate made the announcement in the daily health bulletin on Sunday.
According to the Bangladesh Doctors' Foundation (BDF), as many as 352 doctors and 211 nurses have been infected with Coronavirus so far.
The BDF chief coordinator Dr Nirupam Das said there are several reasons behind the high infection rate among frontline medical personnel.
"The first and severest one is substandard personal protection equipment (PPE). Secondly, patients often get admitted by concealing their medical history. Besides, there is no duty rotation for doctors," said the chief BDF coordinator.
He also said community transmission is also a big threat for all including the medical staff.
Dr Nirupam Das said the BDF has already notified the issue to the higher authorities so that the health system does not collapse amid the pandemic.
In the meantime, the health directorate said that of the 5 deaths in the last 24 hours till Sunday morning, three were male and two were female.
"Four of them were from Dhaka and one from Dohar. One of the victims was aged under ten and had kidney complications. Four others were aged 50 plus," said Nasima Sultana during the health bulletin.
She also said nine more patients recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, raising the number of cured patients to 122.
However, the number includes only those who received treatment at hospital and isolation facilities, and excludes those who were at home, she said.
Dr Nasima said, sample collection has increased by 7.5 percent compared to that in the previous day, and 4 percent increase was reported for PCR testing across the country.
"Currently, 25 institutes are providing testing facilities for Covid-19, including three new additions to the list ─ Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Kushtia Medical College Hospital and M Abdur Rahim Medical College (MARMC) in Dinajpur," Dr Nasima added.
Currently 79,899 people are in quarantine, including 2,891 who have been newly added to the list, and after 97,132 were released till date, according to the latest data provided during the virtual health bulletin.
The government has so far collected more than 15.34 lakh sets of personal protective equipment (PPE), of which more than 12 lakh sets were distributed and 2,54,274 are in stock.
Nasima Sultana further said, the authorities took 75 new Covid-19 suspects into isolation in the last 24 hours – bringing the total to 1,165 as 709 patients were released from self-quarantine.
During the daily health bulletin, Dr Nasima said, "There is no shortage of testing and swab kits as we have already stored enough. Besides, we are collecting and locally producing them."