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Economist misquotes icddr,b ED on Covid-19


Published : 07 Jun 2020 10:29 PM | Updated : 05 Sep 2020 01:36 PM

The icddr,b has said that British magazine The Economist has used its executive director Dr John D Clemens’ comments on Covid-19 ‘out of context’.

In its website, the Bangladesh-based research body issued a clarification over the statement of its executive director on the state of the coronavirus epidemics in South Asia.

Referring to Clemens, the article, titled 'Infections are rising fast in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan', estimated that the number of COVID-19 cases in Dhaka may be as high as 750,000, despite the official tally being less than 60,000 at the time of publication.

“Dr. Clemens' statement in the Economist article was taken out of context,” icddr,b said.

“When asked how high the COVID count might be, he indicated that icddr,b’s staff have been under intensive surveillance for COVID since the beginning of the epidemic.

“All employees with cough, fever, or shortness to breath are instructed to contact the Staff Clinic on a 247 hotline, and those with COVID symptoms are instructed to be tested for COVID by the icddr,b laboratories.

“And for those who have COVID, icddr,b provides treatment, and in collaboration with IEDCR ensures isolation and does contact tracing.

“To date, among the approximately 2,000 icddr,b employees who work at the icddr,b Mohakhali campus, 4-5% have been infected by COVID with no apparent relation to transmission on the icddr,b campus.

“Although this 4- 5% rate of COVID disease among icddr,b employees may not be representative of all community transmission in Dhaka, and generalization to the entire city may not be justifiable, if the figures are extrapolated to the entire population of Dhaka, one could derive a total cumulative case count of at least 750,000.”