Country at risk of coronavirus pandemic

The government has declared the entire Bangladesh at risk of a coronavirus pandemic as the number of Covid-19 positive cases across the country has increased sharply in the last few days.

The increase in the number of positive cases has been slow in the country since the first case was detected on March 8, 2020. But, the number of tests was also low for quite some time. However, the number of infections started increasing steeply in the last couple of days.

On April 13, the number of Covid-19 positive cases identified within 24 hours was 182, while 5 people died from it at that time. Three days later, on April 16, 341 Covid-19 positive cases were identified across the country and 10 people died from it within 24 hours.

In a circular issued on Thursday afternoon, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Professor Abul Kalam Azad said, "The virus has spread to many areas of the country. As it spreads from person to person, it is not possible to contain the virus without banning people going out of home. So, the whole country is now at the risk of the pandemic," Professor Abul Kalam Azad said in the circular.

"People must stay at home to curb the spread of the virus. None should go out of home unless it is an absolutely emergency. No one should move from one area to another. And none will be allowed to stay out of home from 6pm to 6am," he added.

Professor Abul Kalam Azad also warned that stern action will be taken if anyone violates the aforesaid rules.

Death toll from the deadly virus has risen to 60 in Bangladesh as of Thursday and a total of 1,572 people have been infected so far.

The specialists said the number of the coronavirus positive cases in the country is still low, because the number of tests here is low. More tests need to be done to get an accurate number of people infected with the virus.

Professor Nazrul Islam, a noted virologist, told The Business Standard that, "Today the number of (coronavirus) patients spiked sharply. I have feared that would happen. Three to four patients per day were identified at the beginning of April. Today it crossed 300, although we are running a very low number of tests. If we run more tests, more patients will be found."

"I am worried about the management. Our management is not good. We see the rate of death among the Covid-19 patients here is very high, but the number of cured patients is very low. It would be difficult to manage if the number of patients increases," said Professor Nazrul, a former vice-chancellor of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Dr Jahidur Rahman, assistant professor of the Virology Department of Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, said, "We are still running less than 2,000 tests per day in Bangladesh. So, we are not getting the accurate picture. If we could run 10,000 tests per day, we could get the real number of patients here." 

"There are still many unidentified patients in the country. So there is no alternative to running more tests and taking measures based on those results," said Dr Jahidur.

Dr Jahidur Rahman also said, "The death rate here is too high. 60 patients out of 1,500 have died. More patients will be found if more tests are done. That is desirable because we will get the accurate number of the coronavirus patients here and taking the next steps will be easier."

On Thursday noon, Professor Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the DGHS, said among the 10 Covid-19 patients who died in the last 24 hours, one was a person aged between 70 and 80, five were aged between 61 and 70, three were 51 to 60, and one was aged between 21 and 30. Seven of them are male and three are female. Six of the deceased were from Dhaka, while the others were from across the country. 

Professor Nasima also said 2,135 samples were collected in the last 24 hours and 2,019 were tested.

Collection of samples has increased by 4 percent, while testing has increased by 16 percent.

About 2,076,015 people around the world have been infected with the deadly virus and 1,38,008 deaths were reported globally till date.

Six IEDCR staff infected with coronavirus, all staff quarantined

Six employees of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Besides, two family members of the staff also got infected from them.

They are currently under treatment at Infectious Diseases Hospital in the capital's Mohakhali area, sources in IEDCR and the Health Directorate confirmed it to The Business Standard.

The IEDCR initially started testing the coronavirus samples from across the country. Afterwards, the testing facilities have been widened and made available in some other institutions.

After six employees including a technologist tested positive, IEDCR Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora and all officers have been sent to quarantine, said an officer of the Health Directorate.  

They are currently in quarantine in a building near the IEDCR office and working from there, said an officer seeking anonymity.

Death toll from the deadly virus has risen to 60 in Bangladesh as of Thursday and a total of 1,572 people have been infected so far.