Bangladeshi coronavirus patient returns home after recovery

A Bangladeshi coronavirus patient, who was among the first confirmed cases of the infection in the country, has returned home after recovery, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research or IEDCR.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 13 March 2020, 07:15 AM
Updated : 13 March 2020, 07:15 AM

IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora announced the development at a media briefing on Friday.

Bangladesh reported its first cases of the novel coronavirus infection in two men and a woman on Mar 8. Among them, two had recently come home from Italy while the other is a relative of one of the returnees.

The patients were subjected to another round of testing for the virus with two of them returning negative results, said Flora.

One of them was subsequently released in accordance with health guidelines, which stipulate that a patient can be discharged from hospital if he/she tests negative for the virus twice, she added.

The other patient has also recovered enough to be discharged but is yet to be released as members of the individual's family are self-quarantining themselves, according to the IEDCR.

The third patient is yet to test negative for the infection and is still believed to be carrying the virus, said Flora.

Although eight suspected coronavirus patients are being kept in 'isolation' at different hospitals around the country, no new cases of the novel coronavirus infection have been detected, according to the IEDCR director.  

The virus was also detected in five Bangladeshi migrants in Singapore, two in the United Arab Emirates and two in Italy.

Among the expatriates diagnosed in Singapore, four have fully recovered from the infection and returned home, according to the IEDCR. But one of them remains in critical condition.