The government on Thursday recorded a slightly lower number of new cases of coronavirus than the previous day.
Some 564 people were confirmed COVID-19 in the last 24 hours when five patients died and 10 were released from hospitals.
With that, the number of cases rose to 7,667 with 168 deaths and 160 recoveries.
Additional director general for health Prof Nasima Sultana said they had tested 4965 samples during the period between 8am of Wednesday and 8am of Thursday, which were only three less than the previous 24 hours.
But the number new case was 77 lower than the previous day.
Currently 29 labs are conducting RT-PCR tests for coronavirus in Bangladesh as the government is engaging new facilities every day.
Prof Nasima said testing kit is not a problem since they have over 100,000 in stocks.
“We are refilling every day. Its global crisis and every country need PCR testing kits. But we have given our requisition so that we can get time to time,” she said, urging people to stay at home and maintain health guidelines.
Two types of kits are needed - one type is used for collecting samples of suspected virus cases while another type is used at COVID-19 testing labs.
“We are importing PCR kits ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 per purchasing order as no country is selling more than 40,000 PCR kits at a time.”
The kits for collecting samples are being bought from local manufacturing companies.
Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus death on March 18, ten days after the detection of the first COVID-19 cases.
Among the COVID-19-infected cases, nearly 75 percent patients are taking treatment from their homes and many of them are being cured every day after receiving treatment through hotlines, Prof Nasima added.
She said among the five fatalities, two are in their 60s and three in their 40s. Of them, three are male and two female.
The government earlier alerted that the entire country is at risk of the virus spread and expanded the general holidays till May 5.
The government has given approval to three more private hospitals in Dhaka — Evercare Hospital Dhaka (former Apollo), Square Hospital Limited and United Hospital Limited — for performing COVID-19 tests.
These hospitals are allowed to carry out tests only for indoor patients.
Those hospitals will charge for each COVID-19 test as per the fixed rate by the government.
Prof Nasima said a process is underway to give permission to more private hospitals including LabAid Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital and Tairunnessa Memorial Medical College and Hospital for performing COVID-19 tests.
The government will give testing permission of coronavirus to these hospitals after examining their PCR labs and other necessary medical equipment, she said.
“Simultaneously, these private hospitals must fulfill the required conditions set by the government to get the approval.”
So far, there are 9738 isolation beds in Bangladesh for COVID-19 patients including 3944 in Dhaka city.
