IEDCR receives 500 coronavirus testing kits from China
Condition of all coronavirus infected Bangladeshis in Singapore is still unchanged
The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has received 500 coronavirus testing kits from the Chinese Embassy yesterday morning.
Dr Sabrina said, "These kits are real time PCR – polymerase chain reaction – Kits," said Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the institute.
Polymerase chain reaction is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail.
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"Bangladesh has screened all returnees to prevent coronavirus. So far, we tested 77 samples. No coronavirus infections have been found so far," said Dr Sabrina at a press briefing on Covid-19, the disease caused by this new strain of the coronavirus.
She also said the condition of all coronavirus infected Bangladeshis in Singapore is still unchanged.
Five Bangladeshi infected patients are being treated there. One of them is in the intensive care unit. Five other Bangladeshis have also been quarantined in Singapore.
Dr Sabrina said that the 312 people who had returned from Wuhan province in China have been advised to limit their movement for 10 more days after they were released from the quarantine.
"They all are in good health and the IEDCR contacts them regularly," she added.
According to the IEDCR, 241,320 people entered Bangladesh through different ports from January 21 to February 20.
In a press release yesterday, the IEDCR also said breaching passengers' privacy suspecting that they have coronavirus infection is a crime.
The IEDCR said recently an official working at a land port suspected that a passenger had coronavirus infection and published his personal details on social media.
This sort of unprofessional behaviour not only contradicts the normal ethical practice, but also violates the government job regulations on sensitive information, said the IEDCR.
Only the IEDCR has the authority to confirm and make announcement about the coronavirus infection in our country, said the disease control authority.
