By A 39-year-old Bangladeshi who was infected with the coronavirus in Singapore is in a “very critical condition” and has not been responding to the medicine given to him, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen announced yesterday (19 February).
The Minister informed the media referring to the updates by Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan who gave updates via telephone conversation with his Bangladeshi counterpart earlier in the morning, The Daily Star reported today.
The patient is one of the five Bangladeshis who were infected by the virus and are undergoing treatment for coronavirus at Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Minister Monen noted the Bangladeshi patient had been suffering from respiratory and kidney disease before being infected with the virus. He has been kept in the intensive care unit (ICU) for the last 13 days.
“They [the Singapore government] are doing their best to take care of him with medical services of the highest level,” Momen told reporters following the inauguration of an OIC meeting in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, five other Bangladeshis, who are not infected but had close contact with the infected individuals, have also been quarantined in NCID.
The foreign minister added that the Singaporean government is taking measures to ensure that no other Bangladeshi infected with the coronavirus.
Three more people had been infected with coronavirus in Singapore in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of cases to 81 so far, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) stated in a press release yesterday.
On the other hand, Health Minister Zahid Maleque noted “no rumors regarding coronavirus would be tolerated in the country” while speaking to the journalists during his visit to the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery (DGNM) in Dhaka.
“A vested quarter is trying to spread rumours saying coronavirus will spread from consuming chicken or by being near anyone who has returned from China,” he said.
The minister urged people not to pay attention to information provided by others and to follow Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) directives, adding that DGHS is regularly updating information about the coronavirus.
“So far, over two lakh inbound passengers have been screened at different ports of the country. None of the 72 people tested [further] were coronavirus positive. So, there are no coronavirus patients in the country. But we are fully prepared in case of detection,” he added.