“Four more COVID-19 patients, including a physician, died in the last 24 hours in the country, raising the death toll from the pandemic to 50, “Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque told a virtual media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the city through joining it online.
The minister said 219 more people were infected by the lethal virus in the country during the time which took the total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 1231.
DGHS Director General Prof Dr Abul Kalam Azad and Additional Director General (admin) Prof Nasima Sultana also addressed the briefing.
Azad said for first time in the country, a doctor named Dr Moiyeenuddin, 50, died after contracted the lethal virus while performing his duty for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The DGHS director general said he conveyed the message of demise of Dr Moiyeenuddin, an assistant professor of Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“The honourable prime minister expressed her profound shock and sorrow at the death of Dr Moiyeenuddin and told me that the government will take all responsibilities of the family of the deceased,” he said.
The health minister told the briefing that he is deeply saddened at the death of Dr Moieenuddin. “It seems to me that I’ve lost my brother and co-fighter,” he said, adding that the government will surely stand by the family of Dr Moieenuddin.
Maleque said a total of 209 fresh cases were detected after testing 1740 samples through 20 labs across the country over the last 24 hours. “Till today as many as 14,868 samples have so far tested,” he said.
The health minister said since the confirmation of the first COVID-19, positive cases in the country, the total of number recovered people has stood at 49.
Maleque said as part of increasing medical facilities for COVID-19 patients, the government is preparing six infrastructures as isolation centres with necessary healthcare services including 4500 beds capacity.
“We’re also planning on an urgent basis to prepare both government and private hospitals as dedicated ones for COVID-19 patients in the country” he added.
Referring to the support being extended by the private medical colleges and hospitals for COVID-19 patients, the health minister said both Shahbuddin Medical College Hospital with 500-bed and Anwar Khan Medical College Hospital with 700-bed will be prepared for treatment of the coronavirus patients.
Mentioning the countrywide infection history of the disease, Maleque said most of the fresh infected people came from Dhaka and Narayanganj, the two hotspots of COVID-19.
“Alongside Dhaka and Narayanganj, number of COVID-19 patients has increased sharply in Gazipur, Keraniganj and Mymensingh,” he added.
In order to deal increased COVID-19 patients, the minister said the government will import nearly 500 ventilators and 500 oxygenators on an emergency basis, although the world is facing such essential equipment crisis in the wake of the pandemic.
Maleque said the government has extended the nationwide holiday till 25 April as part of social isolation measure to stem the spread of the virus. “But, we’re observing that people are roaming rampantly violating the social isolation measures taken by the government,” he said.
The minister reiterated his call to the people to stay at home, saying that it is the best way to halt the spread of the disease.
Addressing the briefing, Nasima said rampant movement of the coronavirus patients is mainly responsible for increasing COVID-19 positive cases.
The health official said the government has intensified its efforts including collection of protective equipment such PPE, surgical masks alongside increasing medical facilities for coronavirus-infected patients.
She also told the briefing that by now authorities collected 14,0616 PPE, and of them, they distributed 9,58,253 PPE at different hospitals countrywide, while 4,58,315 PPE are in stock.
Nasima said nearly 1,0,4969 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine and 65,315 people were released from quarantine, while the number of people who currently remain in quarantine is about 39,389.
The health official said a total of 488 institutions have been prepared across the country for keeping over 26,000 people in quarantine. “At present, a total of 433 people have been kept at isolation,” she added.
Nasima said doctors, medical technologists and health workers are being imparted training through online as part of the countrywide ongoing training initiatives to provide healthcare facilities to COVID-19 patients and help test of suspected cases for quick confirmation of coronavirus cases.
She advised the people to follow some hygienic practices including washing hands with soap frequently, cleaning all spaces of house and refrain from touching mouths, nose and eyes by unclean hands to protect themselves from the infection of the virus.
Nasima said as part of taking preventative measures to stop imported cases of COVID-19, the authorities of all gateways, including airports, land ports and waterways, are continuing to screening of all foreign returnees.
She said till today, over 24,26,899 people received healthcare services from hotline mobile numbers and health web portals as the government formed a group of medical professionals to provide emergency health services.
The contact hotline and mobile numbers are 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222 – to receive information and treatment facilities on COVID-19.
As of April 15, 2020, 11:24 GMT, 127,630 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and there are currently 2,015,197 confirmed cases in 210 countries and territories, according to Worldometer, a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics.
China was the world’s first country which on January 11 reported the first death from the COVID-19 in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province.
(BSS)
