Gonoshasthaya founder Zafrullah COVID-19 positive also in RT-PCR test

Zafrullah Chowdhury has been found to be carrying coronavirus in RT-PCR test as well after the Gonoshasthaya Kendra testing kit showed he had contracted the virus.

Health workers from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University or BSMMU collected swabs from the Gonoshasthaya founder and trustee at his home in Dhaka on Wednesday and the test results were available on Thursday.

Prof Saif Ullah Munshi, who is supervising the RT-PCR lab sample test programme at the BSMMU, said he was not aware about the test result of any particular patient.

A copy of the RT-PCR test result showed Zafrullah is coronavirus-positive.

Bangladesh only allows RT-PCR testing system for coronavirus diagnosis. It is the most reliable testing system in the world to detect the novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19.

The authorities are conducting trials to check the effectiveness of the Gonoshasthaya kits, ‘GR COVID-19 Dot Blot’.

Zafrullah, 79, is receiving treatment at his residence in Dhanmondi. He also took convalescent plasma therapy at home.

In plasma therapy, blood plasma from the recovered patients is transfused into current patients with the hope the freshly-made antibodies it contains will help fight the virus.

Bangladesh has recently begun trialling the therapy.

The plasma given to Zafrullah was collected from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Gonoshasthaya spokesman Farhad Hossain said.

But Prof MA Khan, the head of the technical committee on plasma therapy, said he was not aware of Zafrullah taking plasma therapy.