Five more new coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases were detected in the country overnight, raising the number of the confirmed coronavirus cases to 61 while its toll remained static at six, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said in Dhaka today.
“Five more persons have tested positive with Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the number of the confirmed cases to 61,” he told at the regular media briefing at the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) in the city.
Director General of DGHS Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad also addressed the briefing.
Joining the media briefing online, the health minister said six people have so far died since the confirmation of coronavirus positive cases in the country on Mar 8.
“Under the guidance of honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina all organizations concerned are working with more dedication and sincerity to contain the spread of Covid-19,” he said.
Maleque urged the medical professionals of both government and private hospitals to remain present at their respective workplaces during such a critical time of the country to provide healthcare facilities to the people.
The minister simultaneously requested both print and electronic media to practice objective journalism through projecting real picture of coronavirus situation alongside playing a role in creating mass awareness on the deadly virus.
As part of the precautionary measures, he advised the people to follow social distancing alongside maintaining individual hygienic habits to limit the spread of the COVID-19.
Maleque called upon the people to strictly follow the directives, particularly to ‘stay at home’, given by the government and the organizations concerned to stem the spread of the disease.
Prof Azad informed that among the 61 coronavirus-infected patients, 26 have so far recovered and 29 are undergoing treatment. “Of them, 22 patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals and seven are under treatment at their homes,” he said.
The top government health official reiterated that the country has sufficient logistic equipment, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and kits.
“We’ve so far collected 4,28,060 PPE, and of those, 3,66,650 PPE were distributed at different hospitals of the country, while the remaining are in stock,” he said.
Prof Azad said: “We’ve arranged two types of quarantine – one is home quarantine and another one is institutional quarantine. A total of 64,484 people were kept at both home and institutional quarantine.”
“Of them, 248 were kept at institutional quarantine,” he added.
The DGHS director general said a total of 48,031 people have so far been released from quarantine, and the number of people who are now at quarantine is 16,453.
Prof Azad said the government has opened hotlines and health web portal for providing healthcare services to the people. “As many as 11,94,118 people have so far received healthcare services from the hotline mobile numbers and health web portal,” he said.
The DGHS Director General urged the people to contact hotline and mobile numbers — 16263, 333 and 10655 — to receive information and treatment facilities on Covid-19.
