None of the 11 China returnees, who fell ill and were tested, had any coronavirus infection, the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control & Research (IEDCR) announced yesterday. IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora, at a briefing at the institute’s Mohakhali office also urged the people not to be panicked over the coronavirus issue, but remain aware of it. “Be aware but not be panicked over the coronavirus issue as nobody has so far become infected with the virus in our country,” she said.
The chief of IEDCR, country’s state-run disease monitoring wing, said no new suspected patient has been admitted to any hospital across the country.
IEDCR has screened a total of 8,396 China returnees from January 21, 2020 until yesterday and all of them were safe, she told reporters.
While talking about the crews of the flight that brought 312 Bangladeshis back to Dhaka from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the locked down epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, and the doctors who went on that flight, the IEDCR chief said they are now at home quarantine and have been advised not to go out.
Dr Flora urged all not to spread any
rumor and pay heed to any rumor about coronavirus in the country, adding that, “The hype regarding wearing mask to avoid coronavirus is useless.”
The disease monitoring wing is running four hotline numbers -01937110011, 01937000011, 01927711784 and 01927711785 – to solve any type of confusion about the virus and creating awareness among people.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has put its key land port Benapole on high alert to identify coronavirus patients but its lone thermal scanner is dysfunctional. Authorities at Burimari land port, on the other hand, lack any scanner and are only asking passengers if they had fever or flu, reports UNB.
Four medical teams are checking passengers for coronavirus symptoms at Beanpole, Bangladesh’s largest land port, with a thermo detector since the thermal scanner’s screen has stopped working.
“We’re after checking passengers, truck drivers and their assistants following the government’s order,” said Dr Bichitra Mallick, medical officer of Benapole Check Post.
He said they have already screened 30,196 passengers since January 18. Among them 6,048 are from India and 206 from other countries. “We’re yet to find anyone infected with coronavirus,” he said.
On February 2, the health ministry ordered screening of all people coming to Bangladesh from India through Benapole land port for coronavirus.
In Lalmonirhat’s Burimari Land Port, members of four medical teams are questioning passengers about their health condition while they are entering Bangladesh. “We haven’t installed any screening machines at Burimari and Changrabandha land ports as there’s no possibility of any Chinese citizen entering the country through these ports,” said Lalmonirhat Civil Surgeon Dr Kashem Ali. He said they will set up screening machineries if necessary.
Medical team members were seen asking passengers if they had cough or fever or if they visited China recently.
Khandakar Mahmud, sub-inspector at Burimari Land Port Immigration Police, said more than 600 to 700 people cross the port regularly.
“We’ve sent letter to the Directorate General of Health Services but they’re yet to take any step to set up thermal scanner at the port,” he said.