Bangladesh has confirmed the first three cases of the new coronavirus which has affected over a hundred countries with the health authorities grappling to contain the pathogen first originated from China in December.
Of the three persons, two came from Italy while the other is a family member of one of them, Director of the government’s disease monitoring agency, IEDCR, Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said on Sunday at the daily briefing.
She said the COVID-19 patients are aged between 20 years and 35 years but did not divulge further details for their privacy.
Hours before her announcement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a programme asked all to follow the directives of the health ministry instead of getting panicked about the coronavirus as she said the government has the capability to face it.
“Please follow the directives of the health ministry regarding the precautionary measures to face coronavirus,” she said while speaking at the inaugural function of the International Women’s Day at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka.
The IEDCR director echoed the Prime Minister and urged all not to be panicked.
Follow health instructions, she said, such as washing hands often with soap for at least 20 seconds, especially before eating, after going to the bathroom and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.
People have been also asked to avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands, cover cough or sneeze with a tissue and throw the tissue away, and maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
Viruses that affect the respiratory system enter the body through mucosal membranes which are found in the nose, oral cavity and lips. With poor hand hygiene, it is easy to acquire a viral infection this way.
“They (sick persons) are doing well. We have quarantined all the members of their family and traced out most of the contacts of those persons who came from Italy. So far we did not get any symptoms,” the director said, adding that they had taken all measures to deal with any situation.
Prof Flora told Bangladesh Post that they have strengthened the surveillance system to catch the virus apart from screening at all entry ports.
“We’ve already trained our healthcare professionals and kept hospitals prepared. We’ve asked hospitals in districts to open isolation wards,” she said, urging all not to spread rumours.
“Please call the hotline numbers of the IEDCR – 01937000011, 01937110011, 01927711784 and 01927711785 – if you have any symptoms of the virus,” she said, adding that they had identified those three cases after getting calls.
“We tested them after they called the hotline numbers,” she said.
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea.
The symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually -- some people become infected but do not develop any symptoms and do not feel unwell, according to the WHO.
Most people (about 80 percent) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing.
Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness.
WHO suggests that people with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention.
The COVID-19 has infected more than 100,000 people and killed over 3,400 while half of the infected people have so far recovered.
Italy's outbreak is the worst in Europe, having infected more than 5,800 people and killed 233.
