Covid-19 testing at six hospitals from tomorrow

Covid-19 testing will resume at four major hospitals in Dhaka and Chattogram from tomorrow, following a recent rise in infection rates in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.

Two other hospitals in Dhaka, which continued testing patients even after the pandemic was declared over, will also carry on with their services.

To support the six hospitals, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday supplied fresh stocks of test kits.

The hospitals are: Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, and the DNCC Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital in Dhaka; and Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in the port city.

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Earlier, the DGHS issued an 11-point health advisory, urging people to avoid public gatherings and mandating mask use in crowded areas to curb the spread of the virus.

In the 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, 15 out of 134 samples tested positive for Covid-19, according to DGHS data. The day before, 10 of 107 samples had returned positive results.

The infection rate saw a sharp increase in May, according to Covid-19 surveillance data analysed by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). Of 1,409 samples tested that month, 9.51 percent were positive -- the highest positivity rate since January 2023.

Additionally, two new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants -- XFG and XFC -- were detected in Bangladesh for the first time at CMCH in April, according to a hospital-based influenza surveillance study jointly conducted by icddr,b and the IEDCR.

Prof Halimur Rashid, line director of Communicable Disease Control at the DGHS, told The Daily Star yesterday that both RT-PCR and rapid test kits were supplied to the six hospitals to ensure they can resume testing as quickly as possible.

Contacted, Brig Gen Md Asaduzzaman, director of DMCH, the largest hospital in the country, said the hospital will resume testing tomorrow. "Those showing symptoms and referred by doctors will be allowed to get tested."

Mezbahur Rahman, director of Mugda Medical College Hospital, said it would also restart Covid-19 testing tomorrow and continue uninterrupted. He noted that testing had been suspended for the past six months due to a shortage of kits.

Shafiur Rahman, director of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said if they cannot resume testing tomorrow, they would do so the day after or by Monday at the latest.

Brig Gen Md Saydur Rahman, director of Kurmitola General Hospital, which had continued testing throughout, said the number of patients seeking tests had remained low. "We've received more test kits today [yesterday], and will continue the service," he told The Daily Star.

CMCH is also preparing to resume testing tomorrow. Its Director Brig Gen Mohammed Taslim Uddin said, "All preparations for testing are almost complete."

Col Tanvir Ahmed, director of DNCC Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital, said they had been conducting tests continuously and would now do so with the newly supplied kits.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, DGHS Director General Prof Md Abu Jafor said the government, international agencies, and some other countries were in talks to procure additional test kits, as some of the stored stock had expired. "We have already collected 28,000 rapid test kits, and 10,000 RT-PCR kits are expected to arrive today [Wednesday]."

Covid-19 was first detected in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020, with the first death reported 10 days later. Since then, over 20.51 lakh people have tested positive, and at least 29,500 have died from the disease.