CORONAVIRUS Bangladesh announces recovery of 2 of its first 3 cases

No new coronavirus infection was found in Bangladesh following the detection of the first cases five days ago and the recovery of two of the three infected patients, said the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research on Wednesday.

Still the IEDCR advised government to dedicate hospitals that were newly built  but awaited operation for isolation and quarantine of suspected coronavirus cases and treating coronavirus infected patients.

The only place capable of diagnosing coronavirus infection, the IEDCR has so far tested 142 samples with a dozen people remaining in either quarantine or isolation.

For a country that received on a daily basis dozens of expatriate workers from states such as Italy, China, Japan and South Korea, the global epicentres of coronavirus outbreak, the reported number of coronavirus infections and suspected cases seemed rather low.

‘We have good news to inspire courage among people that two of the first three coronavirus patients have recovered,’ said IEDCR director Meerjady Sabrina Flora at a routine press briefing at her office.    

‘We will follow WHO protocol to release the patients,’ she said.

Two of the first three people to be infected with the virus showed symptoms after entering the country apparently without having to undergo any test at the airport.

The third infected person was a family member of one of the returnees from Italy.

The IEDCR director did not clarify who among the three infected was still sick with the virus for privacy’s sake but confirmed that the infected person was not in danger.

‘The three had mild symptoms at the time of their diagnosis and were never severely ill,’ said Flora. 

Two of them already tested negative for coronavirus, she said.

The WHO protocol requires a coronavirus patient to undergo test once every three days.

A coronavirus patient is ready to be released after two tests done with a 24-hour gap between them, which confirmed that the patient was free of the virus.

The IEDCR director said that they will release the two people as soon as a second test confirmed their recoveries.

To curb the spread of the virus, IEDCR director said that foreign citizens entering Bangladesh should limit their business schedule to emergencies while the citizens of the country coming from abroad should all self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

She requested employers and healthy colleagues of those symptomatic of coronavirus infection to make arrangements to help them work from home during quarantine.

‘We are in the process of establishing separate hospitals for diagnosed and suspected coronavirus patients,’ said Flora.

Currently a few beds in regular hospitals are put aside for quarantine and isolation of coronavirus patients.

The IEDCR said that it had a number of patients who entered the country from coronavirus infected countries but refused to disclose it for not creating panic among people.

On Tuesday, 59 people, recently travelled from Italy, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, were placed at home quarantine by the district civil surgeon office.

New Age correspondent in Manikganj reported that 20 more people were put in quarantine on Wednesday.

Manikganj civil surgeon Anwarul Amin Akhand said that at least 1,200 people needed to be quarantined in the district for they recently returned from Italy, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Singapore.

Over one crore Bangladeshi live abroad, including in the affected countries, and Bangladesh has already stopped visa-on-arrival for the travellers from Italy, South Korea, Iran and China.

Many believe the confirmed coronavirus cases were just a cluster of infections largely remained unnoticed because of lack of screening capacities in the country.

Bangladesh has only five thermal scanners in operation in its air and land ports for screening a large influx of people from around the world. Even such a small number of scanners do not always operate properly.

The IEDCR said that there was only one confirmed instance of local transmission of the virus so there was still time to take decisions such as shutting down schools and colleges.

‘We however advise people to avoid public gathering,’ said Flora.Education minister Dipu Moni told journalists after attending an event at DRU that special instructions were issued for educational institutions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

No sooner had Bangladesh announced first coronavirus cases, affluent people resorted to bulk buying of disinfectants and other hygiene products. Their prices soared overnight following the sudden rise in demand.

Even medicine shops at hospitals are in shortage of supplies of disinfectants and other hygiene products.

Directorate general of Drug Administration sat with medicine manufacturers and importers on Wednesday to find ways to discourage bulk buying and increase supplies of hygiene products to market.

In another development, Finance Division on Wednesday disbursed Tk 50 crore for tackling coronavirus spread, said additional secretary Habibur Rahman.

The fund can also be used for building a make-shift hospital, he said.

The coronavirus outbreak has spread to 110 countries and so far caused over 4000 deaths. The outbreak has been dubbed a pandemic by the international media with the number of infected persons already surpassing 1 lakh worldwide.

The epicentre of the outbreak appeared to have shifted from China, where the outbreak was first reported in December, to Italy where the entire national of 6 crore has been in lockdown for two days.

The situation is China has reportedly been improved with a steady decline in new infections.

There were only 20 infections in the last 24 hours in China, said IEDCR.

In the last 24 hours until Wednesday noon the IEDCR tested 10 new samples but none of them tested positive for coronavirus.

The IEDCR once again called on the people to wash hands thoroughly with soap, practice hygiene, especially when sneezing and coughing, and not to travel abroad unless emergency to contain the spread of the virus.

The IEDCR urged people to call at its hunting number, +8801944333222, for emergencies and quarries regarding coronavirus infection.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net