A traffic police officer wearing a face mask is on duty on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 9, 2020. A day after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Bangladesh, authorities said no new case of the infectious disease has been reported in the country Monday. (Str/Xinhua)
DHAKA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A day after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Bangladesh, authorities said no new case of the infectious disease has been reported in the country Monday.
Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, head of the country's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) under the Health Ministry, on Monday told a press conference that one suspect case is kept in isolation.
Speaking at the press conference, World Health Organization Representative in Bangladesh Bardan Jung Rana said detection of some cases in Bangladesh is not a matter of big surprise.
"Fortunately, the disease is still within a cluster in Bangladesh and we must make best efforts to contain it," he said.
In another press briefing, Bangladeshi Health Secretary Md Ashadul Islam Monday said the entire situation in Bangladesh is not bad enough to close schools and colleges.
He said that 40 people who came in contact with the confirmed COVID-19 patients or suspected persons having returned home from abroad were put under quarantine.
In Bangladesh, two men and a woman of the same family were tested positive for the COVID-19 on Sunday.
Two of the cases are Bangladeshi returnees from Italy while another one is their family member in Dhaka.
Also on Monday morning, two Bangladeshis who arrived in Dhaka from Spain and Italy were advised for home quarantine.
Bangladesh's High Court bench on Monday asked authorities to issue health clearance certificates to people returning home from abroad.
