Another Covid-19 patient from Narayanganj died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka on Monday, the third person to die from the district in a day.
With the death of the 55-year-old man, so far five people from Narayanganj district have died over the past week from the deadly disease, caused by a new strain of coronavirus.
Narayanganj City Corporation’s Health Officer Dr Sheikh Mostofa Ali confirmed Dhaka Tribune that the man passed away at Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital in the capital around 1:15pm on Monday.
He said the victim was suffering from fever, cold and other coronavirus symptomatic issues for the past two weeks. He was admitted to Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Hospital three days ago after his condition deteriorated.
“Soon after, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) collected his samples as he was showing symptoms of Covid-19. After testing the samples, IEDCR on Sunday had confirmed that the man was suffering from Covid-19,” Dr Mostofa said.
The health official also said that authorities have locked down the area where the man lived in Narayanganj city. “No one else from his family has also shown any symptoms. That’s why their samples haven’t been collected yet.
“But we are in contact with them,” he added.
Moreover, Dr Mostofa said, authorities from Dhaka on Monday confirmed that seven others, including a 10-year-old boy, also tested positive for Covid-19. “They were among 15 people whose samples we had collected over the past few days.
“We are locking down the patients’ homes and areas where they live. But it won’t be possible to prevent this virus from infecting more if the people are not more aware.”
IEDCR Director Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora on March 25 had said that they suspect community transmission of Covid-19 has been taking place in Bangladesh, but on a limited scale.
And some two weeks later, on Sunday, after reporting 18 new positive cases in the previous 24 hour span, she confirmed that a cluster-based community transmission of the disease was happening.
She also identified Narayanganj as one of the five clusters across the country. The other four are Dhaka’s Mirpur and Basabo areas, Madaripur and Gaibandha.
Until Monday afternoon, according to the health authorities, 123 people tested positive for Covid-19 and 12 of them died across the country.
