People found infected with coronavirus, in future, outside Dhaka city will be treated in isolation at their nearby facilities, according to the health authorities concerned.
Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), disclosed the latest measure they are considering at a press conference at their Dhaka office on Sunday.
Responding to a question, she said: “All the suspected and confirmed coronavirus patients were provided treatment in Dhaka. But as treatment facilities outside the capital have been set up, we are considering treating such patients, if there are any, wherever they are.”
She again urged the people not to come to IEDCR directly from their home district for getting tested, ensuring that the authorities have enough manpower to collect samples from their homes where they should remain in quarantine, in case they are showing symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
Two days earlier, Director General Dr Abul Kalam Azad of the health services directorate, or DGHS, had told reporters that home quarantine was the best option to stop Covid-19 from spreading according to the World health Organization (WHO).
He said a travelling Covid-19 patient would be deadly as the passengers and air of the roads he came in contact with could be contaminated and more people could get infected.
10 more including 2 new cases in isolation
The IEDCR director confirmed on Sunday that, with the second test of the third patient coming negative, the first three confirmed coronavirus patients made fully recovery.
However, 10 people, including the two latest coronavirus patients identified recently, were in isolation at the moment at a Dhaka hospital, and four others in centre-based quarantine, she added.
Talking about the new cases, Dr Meerjady only said that one of them is 29 years old while another one is above 40. Both are male returned from Italy and Germany.
Some 2,314 people in eight divisions were in home quarantine until Sunday while the local administrations in all districts were asked to enforce and monitor home quarantine, she said.
Returnees being taken to the Ashkona Hajj Camp for medical tests | Dhaka Tribune
However, many people who recently returned from abroad were found not maintaining the self-isolation or quarantine protocol to avoid spreading of the virus, which has killed more than 6,000 people around the world as of last night since late December last year.
Dr Meerjady said IEDCR tested some 30 saliva samples between Saturday and Sunday, taking the total number of samples tested so far into 241. No new cases were detected.
Meanwhile, a 42-year-old man, who returned from Bahrain recently, fled from Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital (ShSMCH), after authorities contacted IEDCR for sample collection from him as he was showing symptoms similar to coronavirus infection.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Medical College Hospital authorities on Sunday evening sent a 70-year-old woman to a hospital where the other suspected and confirmed Covid-19 patients are being kept in isolation.
Officials said they had to send her there as DMCH does not have the necessary equipment to test Covid-19 infection.
However, according to IEDCR, all hospitals should have an isolation ward for such patients by now and IEDCR officials would go there to collect samples for further testing. No suspected patients should be sent to IEDCR or hospitals designated to treat such patients.
447 back from Italy so far
Meanwhile, officials confirmed that, until Sunday, a total of 447 Bangladeshis returned home from Italy since early Friday.
According to health officials, 217 of them were undergoing medical check-up in Ashkona Hajj Camp and at a Gazipur hospital, while the others were released and asked to remain in home quarantine.
IEDCR Director Dr Meerjady said: “During the check up, evidence of infection and the area from where they came from were considered.”
On Friday, WHO said Europe was the new epicentre for the global coronavirus pandemic and reporting more daily cases than China did at the height of its outbreak.
Some 142 Bangladeshis arrived here from Italy on Saturday. On Sunday, 152 more arrived in the morning and 33 others in the evening, confirmed Shahriar Sazzad, chief health officer at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and assistant director at DGHS.
All new arrivals were taken to Ashkona Hajj Camp, he said.
Family members of some who arrived on Sunday morning alleged that the facilities at the camp were “below standard.” They said the number of beds and resting facilities were insufficient, and the treatment they received was inhumane after their nearly 20-hour-long journey.
Parents of some of the returnees also said they wanted to keep their children in isolation or quarantine at their homes.
However, during Sunday press briefing, Dr Meerjady rejected the allegations and maintained that they have arranged enough facilities for the returnees at the camp.
Flights from coronavirus-affected countries cut
Talking to reporters in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen announced that Bangladesh would not allow any flights from any of the coronavirus-affected countries, except the United Kingdom.
The decision would come into effect from 12:01am on Monday, he added.
Momen said the government took the decision as it wanted to protect over the people by not allowing anybody to "import" coronavirus into the country.
Additional reporting by Mamun Abdullah and Mehedi Al Amin