Unauthorized kits not to be used for COVID-19 tests: health ministry

The government has prohibited unauthorized kits for using of those to test samples of COVID-19, a health official told a press briefing here today.

"Unauthorized kits will not be allowed to use for testing samples of COVID-19 … these kits will not be acceptable," Additional Secretary of the department of health services and also the convenor of the newly formed media cell Md Habibur Rahman said at the press briefing in the conference room of the Health Ministry.

The media cell under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare hosted the press briefing, an official release said.

Additional Secretary of the Department of Health Services Begum Rina Parvin and officials concerned, among others, were also present at the meeting.

As coronavirus outbreak is on the rising trend in the country and some healthcare providers have been infected by the virus, the government has taken a decision to recruit 2000 doctors and 6000 nurses to deal with the pandemic, Habibur added.

Elaborating the government's relentless strides to fight the Covid-19, he said the government is strictly maintaining the standard of all kinds of protective equipment including PPE, surgical masks and gloves to ensure the safety of medical professionals.

In order to provide better healthcare facilities to curb the spread of coronavirus, a total of 44 officials of the health ministry are monitoring the overall healthcare situation and sufficient logistics supports have already been ensured, Habibur added.

In Bangladesh, nine more deaths were reported today from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) overnight and the country recorded 309 fresh positive cases.

Nine more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 140 while the total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country has so far reached 4998.