Bangladesh working on COVID-19 management guideline

Though no people was found infected with coronavirus so far in Bangladesh, the government is preparing a management guideline considering possible spread of the novel virus in the country in the coming days.

The government’s disease monitoring arm, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said a draft guideline was  underway considering the situation if the spread of the Chinese virus could not be prevented at the end.

IEDCR director Meerjady Sabrina Flora said the management guideline considered three-level national preparation plan to tackle the situation.

The first stage, before any case is detected, would involve continuation of the awareness building effort and monitoring, the second stage would focus on measures following the very first detection of a patient in the country and the final stage would consider the situation when people above 100 were infected with the virus, she explained while speaking at a news briefing at her office on Wednesday.

The health ministry, health department and the IEDCR were jointly

preparing the guideline, she said.

With screening system installed at all the ports of entry, Bangladesh is prepared to prevent the spread of the China virus.

The isolation centres were also opened at all the medical college hospitals and districts hospitals.

The epidemiological surveillance sites across the country have been activated.

The IEDCR also installed facilities at every district for collecting samples from the suspected patients and testing those by the IEDCR.

The IEDCR director recently expressed his fear that as the virus was spreading across the globe and as Bangladesh was linked globally, the virus might not be prevented at the end.

Though none was found infected with the coronavirus so far in Bangladesh, six Bangladeshi expatriates were infected in Singapore and United Arab Emirates.

Among them, five were receiving treatment in hospitals in Singapore while one was in critical condition.

The health condition of another Bangladeshi in UAE was stable.

China’s death toll from the coronavirus hits 2,715 on Wednesday.

South Korea reported 169 new infections on Wednesday, raising its total tally to 1,146 — by far the largest outside China — while the 11th person died.

A 23-year-old United States soldier stationed at Camp Carroll in Daegu, South Korea, was also infected.

In Iran, which has reported 15 deaths out of nearly 100 infections, even the country’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi said he had contracted the virus.

In the rest of the world, there have been more than 40 deaths and 2,700 cases.

The disease has now reached dozens of countries, with Austria,

Croatia and Switzerland were the latest to declare cases.

World Health Organisation already announced global health emergency over coronavirus that has already spread to 39 countries.

IEDCR advised people to follow healthy hygiene practices to fend off coronavirus like washing hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, covering the face while sneezing and coughing, using mask if symptoms of coronavirus such as fever, coughing, sneezing and breathing difficulty were found.

IEDCR urges citizens to contact through its hotlines if anyone coming from abroad came down with the symptoms. IEDCR hotlines: +8801937000011, +8801937110011, +8801927711784 and +8801927711785.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net