Getting tested for coronavirus in Bangladesh has not been an easy task for many suspect cases as the health authorities kept it quite limited since the first infection was reported on March 8.
Amid much criticism from different quarters, the health authorities finally expanded its numbers for testing from Thursday afternoon.
In the last 24 hours till 12pm yesterday, a total of 203 samples were tested in Bangladesh.
Although health officials collected 523 samples over the 24 hours, only 203 of them were tested, and as of 2:30pm on Friday results were pending for the rest.
The daily testing rate remained below 100 per day till March 25, a day before the government imposed a shutdown to encourage people to stay at home to fight the spread of coronavirus.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) widened the volume of testing from Thursday, a day after a meeting was held between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, doctors, and health officials. The premier, at the meeting, suggested to collect samples from various areas across the country to get a clearer picture on Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh.
The move comes from DGHS at a time when thousands of panic-gripped people wait in queues outside the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), requesting them to test their samples, but the authorities continue to decline most of them, saying that no tests are required for people with only flu or cough like symptoms.
According to IEDCR, tests are conducted on suspects such as returned expatriates showing symptoms; persons exposed to someone who has already tested positive; symptomatic people aged over 60 having comorbidity; symptomatic people with any pre-existing condition; persons having atypical pneumonia; serious hospitalized patients with corona syndromes; professionals with symptoms who came into contact with different walks of people.
South Korea is the ideal example of how to slow down the spread of the virus – isolate people, and test them as much as possible. It tested over 325,000 people within a single month and isolated the infected.
On the other hand, Bangladesh so far tested samples of only 2,419 suspects. Among them, 61 people have been found infected with coronavirus, with six deaths confirmed by IEDCR.
5 more infected, no new deaths
Five more patients have tested positive for Covid-19 in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours after the government initiative led to the highest number of tests being conducted in a span of 24 hours on Friday.
No new deaths were reported across Bangladesh during the period.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque disclosed the information via an online press briefing on Friday.
In Bangladesh, a total of six people have died of Covid-19, a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus, while 26 people have so far recovered from the infection.
‘Continue providing medical care’
The health minister mentioned that several private hospitals and clinics have been closed down during this crisis and some doctors have taken a break from their private practice.
“Do not back away from providing medical care to those who need it,” he urged.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Director-General Abul Kalam Azad said 513 new samples were tested in the last 24 hours—126 in IEDCR and 387 in other testing facilities.
However, Azad said he does not yet have the testing information of some 20 districts and the 513 tests that were done in the rest of the districts in the last 24 hours.
71,000 testing kits available
Prof Azad said DGHS has 71,000 testing kits in stock as they did not have to distribute more kits to the designated testing facilities for now.
“We will distribute those kits as needed and we are going to increase the number of tests,” he said.
There are nine testing facilities in Dhaka and five outside Dhaka that are functioning currently.
PPEs distributed
A total of 28 testing facilities will be set up in April across the country, the DGSH director-general said.
A total of 3,66,350 personal protective equipment (PPE) have been distributed to healthcare professionals across the country till now, and 64,410 more are currently in stock.
Azad said people are panicking over seasonal flu as the symptoms resemble Covid-19 symptoms and visiting hospitals when they can just take over the counter medicines and use home remedies to recover.
IEDCR hotline explodes with calls
DGHS DG said IEDCR staff are overwhelmed with calls as more people tend to call them instead of calling 16263 and 333.
“IEDCR has 19 phones and all of them remain busy as too many people call there. We recommend people with health issues other than Covid-19 symptoms to call 16263 and 333,” Azad said.
He also added that if the staff think anyone needs to call IEDCR numbers, they will redirect the call there.
In the last 24-hours, IEDCR hotline numbers, health call centre number 16263, and 333 received 65,984 phone calls.
During the same time frame, 547 people have been home quarantined, while 5 were quarantined in designated institutions.
16,453 quarantined
Currently, a total of 16,453 people are quarantined.
During the last 24-hours, 14 people have been taken to isolation units and 10 have been released; 82 people are in isolation right now.
So far, a total of 48,031 people have been released from quarantine, informed the DGHS director-general.
The fast spreading coronavirus, which was first reported in China's Wuhan, has infected more than 1,040,656 people and claimed more than 55,188 lives across the world to date, according to Worldometer.
Globally, about 222,240 infected people have recovered from Covid-19, a pandemic announced by the World Health Organization (WHO).
