Staff Reporter :
Across Bangladesh, 2,314 people are currently in home-quarantine as part of a countrywide effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19.
“All of them are from abroad … so far, there has been no case of local transmission,” Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said Sunday.
Dr Flora confirmed that in the past 24 hours two new patients were detected with the COVID-19.
“We tested samples from 20 people in the past 24 hours. So far, we’ve tested 231 samples and found five of them to be infected with coronavirus. Two new patients have been diagnosed with coronavirus,” said Dr Flora.
She said both the newly-infected patients have travelled from Europe.
“One of them, a 29-year-old male came from Germany and the other, also a male in his 40s, travelled from Italy. The latter has high blood pressure and other medical conditions. Both of them are in stable condition,” she said. Dr Flora said all of the first three coronavirus patients have fully recovered and discharged. “Ten people are in isolation,” she said. The IEDCR director said 142 returnees from Italy have been kept in home quarantine. “They’ve been sent home quarantine from Ashkona Hajj Camp under the supervision of the administration,” said Dr Flora. She said 152 Bangladeshis who returned from Italy on Sunday morning are going to be quarantined at Ashkona. Meanwhile, IEDCR hotlines received 3,671 calls about coronavirus in the past 24 hours. She requested anyone with coronavirus symptoms not to visit IEDCR in person.
“I urge everyone not to visit the IEDCR directly if you have the symptoms. If you do, you are most likely to affect quarantined patients here as well as infect people in public transports,” she said.
She said, IEDCR teams have been collecting samples from different wards of hospitals for testing to monitor and repel community transmission of the disease. Dr Flora said the IEDCR will arrange for institutional quarantine for those who do not have the ability to maintain home quarantine.
She emphasised that there is no scope of taking the disease lightly. “The situation is worsening in many countries. I’d request all overseas travellers to stay in home quarantine for 14 days,” she said.
She criticised many returnees for not properly following home quarantine guidelines. “Because of this, those who are returning now are being sent to the Ashkona Hajj Camp.” She warned that the government will be forced to go on ‘hardline’ if the returnees do not follow the quarantine procedures.
“All those who came from affected countries or abroad will be monitored. The administration, including local health officials, union parishad chairmen, members and others will monitor them. Strict measures will be taken if they don’t follow any rules. There will be no compromise,” said Dr Flora. She assured the media that the authorities have enough resources to identify the viral infection. “We have enough reagents at our disposal to test around 2,000 people. Also we have more coming in pipeline,” said the IEDCR director.
