Coronavirus: Developments in the last 24 hours

Two more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the country, taking the total number to 56, the Directorate General of Health Services said yesterday. 

At least 1,000 samples from suspected patients will be collected across the country by yesterday, said Habibur Rahman, director of DGHS's management information system.

The two new patients are male. One of them is aged between 30 and 40, and another between 70 and 80, he told the regular press briefing on Covid-19 via video conference from his office in the capital.

"We are investigating to know how they got infected," he added.

Seventy-eight people are now kept in isolation. Samples from 141 suspected patients were tested in the last 24 hours.

Habibur said as per the prime minister's directive, samples from two suspected coronavirus patients would be collected from each upazila so that the number could be at least 1,000, and tests would be done by today. 

He added that they were trying to increase the number of tests.

The move came as health experts have been stressing the need for more tests to assess the situation as they fear the number of infected people could be higher as many carriers of the virus could be off the radar due to limited testing.

Around 1,900 tests were done in the country from late January until yesterday.

Meanwhile, two people died after showing Covid-19-like symptoms in Sunamganj and Laxmipur since Wednesday night, while multiple houses have been locked down in different districts to slow down the transmission of the deadly virus.

In Sunamganj, a 49-year-old Oman returnee died at home in Dowarabazar upazila yesterday.

He returned from Oman on March 17 and completed his 14 day's home quarantine on March 31, said Shamsuddin Ahmed, Sunamganj civil surgeon.

He was suffering from pain in stomach since early yesterday. A quack, during a home visit, gave him medicine for stomachache around 7:00am. Later, he breathed his last around 10:00am, said the civil surgeon.

His samples were sent to IEDCR for tests, and he was buried following the WHO protocol, he added.

Following the death, the victim's house and nine other adjacent houses have been put under lockdown, and members of these families have been asked to stay indoors, said Sonia Sultana, Dowarabazar upazila nirbahi officer.

A man, who was in home quarantine, perished at Dalal Bazar in Laxmipur Sadar upazila on Wednesday night.

Following his death, 15 houses, adjacent to the deceased's home, were isolated by the local administration yesterday.

The victim, 70, was suffering from fever, cough, and sore throat for the last couple of days. He died around 8:00pm on Wednesday, said Nizam Uddin, upazila health and family planning officer.

An Italy returnee recently visited his home. So, it is suspected that he contracted after coming in contact with the returnee, he said.

His samples will be sent to IEDCR for tests, said Abdul Gaffar, civil surgeon of Laxmipur.

In another development, Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Chattogram tested 13 samples in the last 24 hours till yesterday afternoon, and found no Covid-19 cases, said Sheikh Fazle Rabbi, Chattogram civil surgeon.

The BITID tested 55 samples since March 25, and the results were negative, he said.

A suspected patient was undergoing treatment in the isolation unit of a hospital in Chattogram, he said. 

In Cumilla's Monohorganj, the local administration yesterday isolated a house in Kharkharia village after a man of the house showed Covid-19-like symptoms. His samples were sent to IEDCR for tests.

A 35-year-old man, who died with fever in Tangail's Madhupur on Tuesday, tasted negative for coronavirus.

Test reports from Mymensingh lab of IEDCR yesterday confirmed that the victim did not contract the virus, said Mohammad Waheduzzaman, civil surgeon of Tangail.

Our correspondents from Sylhet, Noakhali, Chattogram, Tangail, and Cumilla contributed to this report.