China will submit four specific reports to Bangladesh with recommendations on how it can better deal with the coronavirus situation.
The reports will be handed over to the Health Ministry here through the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka within a week as the visiting team of Chinese medical experts leaves Dhaka on Monday.
Minister Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan came up with the information during a Zoom briefing for members of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) on Sunday.
Earlier, Dr Shuming Xianyu made a presentation on their works.
Responding to a question, Yan, who accompanied the team during all the meetings, said it is difficult to say whether peak of coronavirus transmission has arrived in Bangladesh or not.
He said the researchers can only say how long the virus will last in the world.
“Cooperation is very important bilaterally and multilaterlly,“ said the diplomat adding that one country alone cannot solve the problem.
Yan said they found the situation totally different in Bangladesh compared to China and the team suggested ways that suit the situation of Bangladesh.
They identified lack of public awareness as one of the problems and highly appreciated Bangladesh’s health workers saying they are very hard working.
The 10-member team of experts, who has the firsthand experience of containing the virus and treating patients with remarkable success, came to Bangladesh with a bunch of medical equipment.
During two weeks of interactions, the Bangladesh side highlighted their current challenges and the experts sought to guide them sharing the successful experience on containment and prevention of the pandemic as well as treatments of COVID patients achieved in Wuhan and other parts of China.
In response to relevant questions of Bangladesh side, the Chinese experts said the virus can survive in patient’s body for 60 days in extreme cases with two weeks of incubation period.
On the reemergence of positive symptoms in patient’s body after recovery, the team, led by LI Wenxiu, pointed at two possible reasons; there is perhaps something wrong with the test results and no permanent immunity is obtained after recovery.
About the measures of successful determination of the suspected cases, the experts advised to check on contact history, typical symptoms, abnormal blood routine, and lung CT image.
They also talked about the differences between KN95 and N95 masks saying that KN95 is for industrial dust and N95 is for preventing liquid spillage.
Fruitful discussions
About another very important question about whether an asymptomatic infected person is contagious, the Chinese experts answered, “Yes, it can be contagious, which is why the persons should be treated as the ordinary COVID patients.“
To avoid infection in laboratory personnel, the Chinese team advised that thorough disinfection is necessary while every single resumption begins.
On sample transferring, they said the whole process should have special channels for collection, transportation and access to the laboratory, and most of all the samples must be sealed in three layers.
While replying to a question about whether the COVID patients need special treatment if they have other lung infections, the experts suggested that the original disease and COVID-19 symptoms should be treated simultaneously, and the etiology needs to be tested first to make the decision on which antibiotics have to be used.
Asked about what to do after the death of COVID-19 patients, they answered that the deceased should be disinfected all over the body, wrapped in two impermeable bags and then transported to the decided place for burial.
