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Shibchar of Madaripur under lockdown

Four more infected with COVID-19, Dhaka-Rajshahi bus service suspended

Published : Friday, 20 March, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 387

Shibchar Upazila under Madaripur district was declared lockdown on Thursday as the area was found the most vulnerable due to presence of returnees from different countries.
The local authorities in Madaripur's Shibchar Upazila ordered all shops, business entities and public transports to keep their shutters down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The order, effective from Thursday evening, will exclude shops of essential goods like groceries and medicines, Upazila Executive Officer Md Asaduzzaman said.
Earlier, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said the government would consider lockdown in some vulnerable areas of the country if the coronavirus situation worsened.
The minister came up with the remarks while talking to reporters at the secretariat.
"Like China, Bangladesh will also go for lockdown in some areas, if necessary. Larger number of expatriates returned to
Madaripur and Faridpur districts, we'll consider lockdown these areas, if needed, he said
"More than 5000 people are currently in quarantine across the country�action will be taken if they try to violate the quarantine rule," he said. The government has selected some hospitals and institutions where 2,000 beds will be installed for isolating people having coronavirus symptoms, the minister stated.
Besides, Bangladesh army members have been preparing Biswa Ijtema ground for quarantining suspected corona patients and their treatment, he said.
"We don't need to find out the returnees of January and February but we've made a list of returnees who've returned home in March�they'll be kept in quarantine," Maleque said.
The government is going to procure 1 lakh coronavirus testing kits and all necessary measures have been taken for the safety of physicians, he said.
Holidays of all staff and employees of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have been cancelled, he said, adding that the government will also ban flights from the United Kingdom within a day or two.
Health Minister Zahid Malik said the situation was worsening in Madaripur and Faridpur districts and in particular, Shibchar Upazila.
They have more patients with the symptoms than in the other areas. Most of the 17 infected are from the region. So we are considering it vulnerable and critical," he said.
"We will lock down these areas if the number of cases rises," he added.
Meanwhile, four more people including three of a family have been infected with the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 in Bangladesh on Thursday.
Nineteen people have been kept in home quarantine while 43 others in institutional quarantine.
With the inclusion of the new four victims, the number of total COVID-19 infected persons rose to 18 on Thursday. However, no information of death was registered on the day.
Our reporters from Rajshahi reports that all bus services from Rajshahi to Dhaka and Dhaka to Rajshahi have been suspended for indefinite period to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Rajshahi Transport Owners Association took the decision this afternoon.
However, buses from Dhaka to other northern districts and northern districts to Dhaka will ply the streets.
With the number of Coronavirus suspected and returnees from different infected countries rising the government has decided to prepare the Ijtema ground of Tongi for quarantining the suspected persons under the supervision of Bangladesh Army.
On Thursday, the government restricted entry to Bangladesh Secretariat to prevent the spreading of Coronavirus. The entrance of visitors to the secretariat was very poor.
The Home Ministry on the day asked the authorities concerned not to issue any temporary pass for the visitors to prohibit the entry of visitors to the heart of the administration.
At a briefing on Thursday held at the secretariat Health Minister Zahid Maleque said, "The government will lockdown the most vulnerable areas of the country such as Madaripur and Faridpur if the Coronavirus outbreak worsens."
"Suspected infected persons and returnees from abroad will be kept under the supervision of Army. They will be kept on the Ijtema ground of Tongi," he added.
Earlier, at a regular briefing at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) at Mohakhali Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Kalam Azad said, "They have identified four more infected persons in the country. Of them, three patients including a female aged 22 who showed only minor symptoms, is in a local quarantine while the two males aged 32 and 65 are undergoing treatment at hospitals."
"Three of newly-infected patients are members of a same family. One of their family members recently returned from Italy," he added.
Another youth, 26, who returned from Italy recently, was identified as corona-infected in Thanapara of Chuadanga district, ASM Maruf Hasan, Civil Surgeon of the district, said on Thursday afternoon at a press briefing.
Maruf Hasan said, "The person diagnosed with coronavirus in Chuadanga returned from Italy on March 12 adding that the patient had been kept in quarantine."
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country is now 18.
DG of DGHS said, "A total of 25,916 calls were made through IEDCR hotlines and 42 people have visited directly IEDCR. Of them, 25 have been tested in the last 24 hours where 366 have been tested so far at IEDCR since January 21."
He said virus transmission has not yet reached the level of community-transmission.
The DG also said test facilities will be extended to all divisions in the country except Barishal.
A total of 500 new personal protective equipments (PPE) were supplied to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and 1,000 were supplied to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. The collection of one lakh test kits and five lakh PPE is under process.
Of the total 18 patients, three were earlier released upon recovery while one died on Wednesday. With the death of a 70-year-old man, Bangladesh recorded its first death from Covid-19.
The IEDCR has requested to visit its Facebook page or call the Covid-19 Control Room numbers - 16263, 333 and 01944333222 - or email: [email protected] if someone suspects to have coronavirus.










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