Staff Reporter :
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said, the government has identified additional spots for quarantine in case the current facilities are overwhelmed.
The government hospitals have 500 medical ventilators, while the private ones have 700 to tackle the coronavirus situation.
“We have received 250 more ventilators and the government is currently installing them at different hospitals. The government is also expecting to collect 350 more ventilators soon,” Health Minister said in a press briefing through video conference arranged by Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) in its office in Dhaka on Sunday to apprise the latest situation of coronavirus cases in the country.
“The government has arranged 3,000 beds in Dhaka division for the treatment of coronavirus infected patients. We have provided three lakh personal protective equipment (PPE) to different hospitals,” the health minister said.
The IEDCR said in the briefing that no new coronavirus patients had been detected in the country in last two days.
Zahid Maleque said that Bangladesh is in better condition in the battle to contain coronavirus, compared with other countries.
He said, “We are getting nearly 20,000 more PPEs everyday and we are gradually distributing them.”
Replying to a query on whether anyone in health ministry is infected with coronavirus or whether he himself was quarantined, he said that he got tested for coronavirus and the results were negative.
Replying to another query, the minister said that local people of Tejgaon area should be more tolerant about the initiatives of Akij Group’s construction of a corona hospital there.
He said also that the government had identified additional spots for quarantine in case the current facilities are overwhelmed.
The minister acknowledged the ICU scarcity, but said all major hospitals outside Dhaka have been asked to maintain a few ICU beds as ready in case they receive patients.
“In the past 24 hours IEDCR and BITID in Chattogram tested 106 samples. None of them was positive,” said Professor Dr. Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Director the IEDCR in the press briefing.
Till Sunday there are no new patient has been detected in last two days, keeping the total number of confirmed cases unchanged at 48 in the country.
Dr. Sabrina said, fifteen people, who had earlier tested coronavirus positive, have fully recovered and returned home. Another 28 people are being treated at different hospitals, she added.
