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In light of a recent uptick in coronavirus infections, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has directed all hospitals across the country to ready their Covid-dedicated beds by Saturday.
On Wednesday, Abu Hussain Md Moinul Ahsan, DGHS director of hospitals and clinics, said several hospitals, including the DNCC Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital, Mugda Medical College and Hospital, Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, and Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, have already set up facilities to treat Covid patients.
The remaining hospitals are in the process of doing so, he added.
“We’re working diligently and hope that by Saturday, all district-level public hospitals will have beds ready, whether or not there are patients at the moment.
“We want to ensure that no patient is ever turned away from a government hospital without receiving treatment. That’s the assurance we want to give the public.”
This year, Bangladesh has detected 215 Covid-19 cases—57 of them within the first 10 days of June. On Tuesday alone, 13 new infections were recorded over a span of 24 hours.
The first virus-caused fatality in one and a half years was registered on Thursday.
Since the initial outbreak in 2020, over 15.7 million samples have been tested in Bangladesh, resulting in more than 2.05 million confirmed cases and 29,500 deaths.
The virus claimed 7,559 lives in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In 2021, the death toll peaked at 20,513. It dropped to 1,368 in 2022 and 37 in 2023, while no deaths were reported in 2024.
Following the surge of new sub-variants in India and neighbouring countries—as well as fears of global spread—the DGHS has issued renewed health advisories.
On Monday, the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) under the DGHS advised against non-essential travel to India and other affected countries. It also instructed authorities to ramp up health screening and monitoring at all land and air entry points.