Situation Report No. #13 25 May 2020 https://www.who.int/bangladesh/emergencies/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-update/coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-bangladesh-situation-reports
People returning home for Eid ul Fitr, 21 May 2020, Bangladesh Photo: Social Media Bangladesh
Tested Confirmed Recovered Dead Hotline
235,014 35,585 7,334 501 7,661,371
Test/1 million AR/1 million Recovery Rate CFR% Isolation Beds
1,485.6 208.9 20.6% 1.41% 9,134
Laboratories Gender PPE Stock PoE Screening
48 COVID-19 Labs
68% 32% 1,426,431 334,678 68,175 Samples Days
35.2% Outside Dhaka Tests 2,401,557 19,414
14.1% Overall Positive Tests 647,495 7,029
15.2% IEDCR Positive Tests 183,304 335,532
WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
1. Highlights
As of 25 May 2020, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), there are 35,585 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh, including 501 related deaths; Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is 1.41%.
On 19 May 2020, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHWF), Health Services Section issued an Office Order with the instructions that in view of the COVID-19 situation, samples collection, transportation to laboratories and PCR laboratory testing for SARS-CoV-2 should remain operational during the Eid holidays, any government and weekly holidays.
The general holidays and restriction of movement until 30 May 2020 was extended on 14 May. The holidays are not effective for those engaged in processing of agricultural products, fertilizer, pesticide, foods, industrial goods, products/equipment of government projects, kitchen markets, food shop, pharmacies, hospitals and emergency services. The inter-district and inter-Upazila movements are supposed to be strictly controlled during the holiday period, and social distancing and other health-related advisories are to be maintained during Ramadan and Eid shopping.
2. Coordination
WHO updated the Operational planning guidance to support country preparedness and response (22 May 2020). The document includes new recommendations for action aligned with recent technical guidance, including: maintaining essential health services and systems during the outbreak, and special considerations for community transmission in low-capacity and humanitarian settings. This document was developed by WHO to provide a practical guide that may be used by national authorities to develop and update their COVID‑ 19 national plans across the major pillars of COVID‑ 19 preparedness and response. It is also intended for use by the UN Country Teams and key partners to develop or update their COVID‑ 19 multiagency plans with and in support of national authorities. This document does not supersede existing national guidance or plans. Rather, these guidelines should be used to rapidly adapt existing relevant national plans and focus the international community’s support. Full document: https://www.who.int/publications- detail/draft-operational-planning-guidance-for-un-country-teams
WHO issued an interim guidance (20 May 2020) on Controlling the spread of COVID-19 at ground crossings. This document advises countries how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 resulting from travel, transportation, and trade on and around ground crossings by identifying priority ground crossings and communities and scaling up preparedness and control measures at these locations. The Guidance has been shared with the IHR National Focal Point at the MOHFW and other partners for necessary coordination and further actions. Full document: https://www.who.int/publications- detail/controlling-the-spread-of-covid-19-at-ground-crossings
The Medical and Dental Society of Physician and Medical Students provides support to the national COVID-19 response through hundreds of its volunteers working at the DGHS ‘Integrated COVID-19 Control Center’ for data entry, contact tracing, identifying suspected patients and translating different international guidelines, etc. The volunteers distributed 9,000 PPE, and more than three thousand doctors are providing telemedicine services through the national hotlines
On 20 May 2020, Cyclone Amphan made landfall near Jammu Island, West Bengal at 5.00 pm with 130-140 km/h wind speed. The cyclone also struck the southern districts of Khulna and Barisal divisions of Bangladesh on the same day afternoon. According to Needs Assessment Working Group (NAWG) report, the following 7 districts were badly affected - Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola and Jashore. Because of strong wind, high tidal surge along with heavy rainfall, some areas of coastal embankment were broken down that inundated several hundred of houses, crops field and water resources in the low-lying area. Main needs were identified in the WASH, Shelter, Food Security/Livelihood and Protection sectors. More than 4 million people were asked to use shelters during the cyclone and according to the Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) & Control Room of Directorate General of Health Services, total 26 people lost their lives and 07 more people were injured due to falling of trees, boat capsize, wall collapse and drowning.
2 | P a g e WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020 3. Surveillance and Laboratory
Between 8 March and 25 May 2020, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) there were Thirty-five-thousand-five-hundred-eighty-five (35,585) COVID-191 confirmed by rt-PCR, including five- hundred-fifty-one (501) related death cases (CFR 1.41%).
The figures below are showing the daily distribution of reported confirmed COVID-19 cases, outcome and CFR, 08 March – 25 May 2020, Bangladesh.
2,000 # Cases # Deaths 40 1,500 Poly. ( # Cases ) Poly. (# Deaths) 30 1,000
500 20
0 Number of Cases Cases (N=35,585) Number of 10 08/03 15/03 22/03 29/03 05/04 12/04 19/04 26/04 03/05 10/05 17/05 24/05 -500 0 -1,000 10 -1,500
20 -2,000
-2,500 30 (n=501) Deaths Number of
40,000 Total Deaths (n=501) Active Cases (n=27,750) Recovered (n=7,334) 35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
Number of Cases Cases Number (N=35,585) of 10,000
5,000
0
23/03 26/03 13/04 16/04 19/04 07/05 10/05 08/03 11/03 14/03 17/03 20/03 29/03 01/04 04/04 07/04 10/04 22/04 25/04 28/04 01/05 04/05 13/05 16/05 19/05 22/05 25/05
1 WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Reports present official counts of confirmed COVID-19 as announced by the IEDCR on the indicated date. Difference in data between the WHO reports and other sources can result from using different cutoff times for the aggregation and reporting of the total number of new cases in the country.
3 | P a g e WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
The overall COVID-19 attack rate (the total number of cases divided by the total population) in Bangladesh2 has been on a steady increase since 4 April 2020. On 25 May 2020, Bangladesh attack rate (AR) is 208.9 per 1 million, and 100% (64/64) of districts with the total population of 170,306,468 people have confirmed COVID-19 cases.
According to the available data for 25,425 cases, the highest AR continues to be observed in the Dhaka division (427.6/1,000,000). Within the Dhaka division, Dhaka city has the highest AR (1,659.8/1,000,000), followed by Narayanganj district (518.1/1,000,000), Munshiganj (339.9/1,000,000), Gazipur (141.8/1,000,000), Gopalganj (103.2/1,000,000), Dhaka district (96.2/1,000,000), Madaripur (69.6/1,000,000), Manikganj (68.6/1,000,000), Kishoreganj (67.1/1000,000) and Narshingdi (66.5/1,000,000).
The second highest COVID-19 Attack Rate is reported from Chattogram division of (103.7/1,000,000). Within the division, Chattogram reported the highest AR (189.6/1,000,000) followed by Cox’s Bazar district (133.7/1,000,000), Noakhali (102.9/1,000,000), Rangamati (85.2/1,000,000), Cumilla (83.7/1,000,000), Feni (54.8/1,000,000), Lakshmipur (50.9/1,000,000) and Bandarban (43.6/1000,000).
The 3rd highest AR in the country was reported from Mymensingh division (67.6/1,000,000). Within the Mymensingh division, Netrokona district has the highest AR (78.1.2/1,000,000), followed by Jamalpur district (71.2/1,000,000), Mymensingh district (66.1/1,000,000) and Sherpur District (50.4/1,000,000).
Sylhet division reported overall AR (45.6/1000,000) with the highest AR in Habiganj (65.2/1000,000), Rangpur division reported overall AR of 42.6/1,000,000 with the highest AR in Rangpur district at (109.8/1,000,000); and in Rasjsahi division although the overall AR is relatively low at 28.7/1,000,00 but with high AR for Joypurhat district is as high as 124.9/1,000,000.
The following figure is showing the attack rate per 1,000,000 population of reported confirmed COVID-19 cases in seven divisions (except the Dhaka division), 08 March - 25 May 2020, Bangladesh
125 CTG RNP KLN MYM BSL RSH SYT
100
75
50 Attack Rate/1,000,000 Attack
25
0
13/04 15/04 01/05 03/05 05/05 19/05 21/05 23/05 17/04 19/04 21/04 23/04 25/04 27/04 29/04 07/05 09/05 11/05 13/05 15/05 17/05
As of 25 May 2020, geographical distribution of conformed reported COVID-19 cases was available on 76% (25,425/33,610) of them 72.4% (18,419/25,425) were from Dhaka division, Chattogram division 13.7% (3,486), Mymensingh division 3.5% (879), Rangpur division 3% (796), Rajshahi division 2.5% (627), Sylhet division 2.1% (534), Khulna division 2% (474), and Barisal division 0.8% (210).
2 Source: Population projection from 2011 Census, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020 The figures below are showing the daily distribution of reported confirmed COVID-19 cases (N=25,425) per division, 13 April– 25 May 2020, Bangladesh.
5,000
Dhaka 19,951 Chattogram 20,000 18,419 4,000 15,794 3,486 3,223 13,872 15,000 3,000 2,778 12,157 2,338 10,383 2,097 10,000 8,289 2,000 1,697 6,914 1,475 5,331 1,201 909 5,000 3,715 1,000 669 2,453 513 1,368 270 350 670 127 170 - 41 92 -
- -
16/04 19/04 28/04 10/05 19/05 13/04 22/04 25/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 13/05 16/05 22/05 25/05
13/04 16/04 19/04 22/04 22/05 25/05 25/04 28/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 13/05 16/05 19/05
1,000 1,000 879 845 Rangpur Mymensingh 796 800 800 745 700 669 613
565 600 525 600 519 476 435 379 371 400 400 301 323 290 237 198 168 200 149 200 104 99 75 38 52 42 15 - 14 - -
-
19/04 22/04 13/05 16/05 13/04 16/04 25/04 28/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 19/05 22/05 25/05
16/04 25/04 13/04 19/04 22/04 28/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 13/05 16/05 19/05 22/05 25/05
700 700 Rajshahi 627 Sylhet 600 600 551 534 483 500 500 392 400 400 340 306 300 246 300 245 252 219 197 184 200 155 200 149 163 110 125 114 89 100 64 100 49 21 34 18 2 4 - 4 8 -
- -
16/04 25/04 04/05 13/05 13/04 19/04 22/04 28/04 01/05 07/05 10/05 16/05 19/05 22/05 25/05
13/04 25/04 28/04 13/05 16/04 19/04 22/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 16/05 19/05 22/05 25/05
500 700 Barishal Khulna 600 400 500 461474 427 300 390 400 350 335 205210 300 246 200 156 158 163 217 136 146 194 124 111 200 150 94 136 100 65 83 31 100 38 10 - 1 6 9 -
- -
25/04 28/04 19/05 22/05 25/05 13/04 16/04 19/04 22/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 13/05 16/05
19/04 28/04 10/05 19/05 13/04 16/04 22/04 25/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 13/05 16/05 22/05 25/05
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
Bangladesh reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case on 08 March 2020, reached 100 cases on 9 April, exceeded 200 cases within the next two (2) days, so Case Doubling Time was 2 days. The case doubling time of new cases was then slowing down from two to three, then five days. As of 25 May 2020, the case doubling time in Bangladesh remains around five (5) days. Available data allows us to see how quickly the number of confirmed cases increased in Bangladesh and some other countries in the WHO South-East Asia region: India, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
The figure below is showing the growth of COVID-19 confirmed cases in selected South East Asian countries starting from the day they reported 100 confirmed cases, 25 May 2020.
100000 India
Indonesia Bangladesh
10000 Malaysia
Thailand Number Cases Number of
1000 Sri Lanka
100 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 Days since 100th Confirm Case
In the chart above we used the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases; in the chart below, we used the three-day rolling average of daily reported cases. The use of rolling average helps to account for possible fluctuations in the daily reported data, due to possible delays in reporting, fewer samples collected/tested/reported on weekends or holida ys, etc.
The figure below is showing the daily reported confirmed COVID-19 rolling three-day average in selected South East Asian countries starting from the day they reported 30 confirmed cases, 25 May 2020.
Bangladesh Indonesia Malaysia Thailand 1,600
1,200
800
400 Number of Cases Average)Cases Number (3rolling days of 0 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 01 03 05 07 09 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 01 03 05 07 09 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25
March April May
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
Growth factor (every day's new cases / new cases on the previous day) between 0 and 1 indicates a decline; when it is above 1 it signals an increase, and if is persistently above 1 this could signify exponential growth. On April 3, the Growth factor (GF) for COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh reached the highest of 2.5, on 12 April it was 2.3. Since the beginning of May 2020, the GF has been within the range of 0.8 – 1.4, and on 25 May 2020, the GF is 1.3.
The figure below is showing the Growth Factor of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases, 08 March – 18 May 2020, Bangladesh.
3.0
2.5
Growth Factor 2 2.0
1.5
Growth Factor 1 Growth Growth Factor 1.0
0.5
0.0
20/03 26/03 01/04 07/04 13/04 10/05 16/05 22/05 08/03 11/03 14/03 17/03 23/03 29/03 04/04 10/04 16/04 19/04 22/04 25/04 28/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 13/05 19/05 25/05
As of 25 May 2020, there were 7,835 (22.0%) COVID-19 cases with known outcome (closed cases) out of them 93.6% (7,334/7,835) were cured and 6.4% (501) died. The death rate on closed cases in Bangladesh is lower than the 13.0% (347,013/2,660,108) global average as of 25 May 2020.
The figure below is showing the death and recovery rates over cumulative closed confirmed COVID-19 cases, 08 March – 25 May 2020, Bangladesh.
100% Death% Recovery%
80%
60%
40%
20% Number of Closed Cases Cases Closed (N=7,835) Number of
0%
11/03 23/03 04/04 16/04 19/04 28/04 01/05 13/05 25/05 14/03 17/03 20/03 26/03 29/03 01/04 07/04 10/04 13/04 22/04 25/04 04/05 07/05 10/05 16/05 19/05 22/05
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
Bangladesh reported its first confirmed COVID-19 death on 18 March 2020 (10 days after reporting the first confirmed COVID-19 case). Case Fatality Rate (the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases) in Bangladesh showed a decline from 10% on 06 April down to 1.41% on 25 May 2020.
According to data available as of 25 May, the time of death count doubling in Bangladesh is slower than in India and Indonesia, but faster than in Malaysia, Thailand and especially Sri Lanka.
The figure below is showing the growth of COVID-19 confirmed deaths in selected South East Asian countries starting from the day they reported the 5th confirmed death, 25 May 2020.
3000 India
Indonesia
300 Bangladesh
Malaysia Thailand
30 Number of Deaths (N=501) Deaths of Number
Sri Lanka
3 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 Days since 5th Confirm Death Due to death reporting protocols and possible delays, the reported death figure on a given date does not necessarily represent the number of new deaths on that day. And since daily reporting can very, it is also helpful to see the rolling three-day average of the daily figures.
The figure below is showing daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths, rolling 3-days average in selected South East Asian countries, 25 May 2020.
50 Bangladesh Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Sri Lanka
40
30
20
10 Number of Deaths (3 days rolling Average)rolling (3 days Deaths Number of 0 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 01 03 05 07 09 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 01 03 05 07 09 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 March April May
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
As of 25 May 2020, according to IEDCR, a total of 253,014 COVID-19 tests with the overall positivity rate of 14.1% were conducted in Bangladesh by 48 laboratories (29 laboratories in Dhaka and 29 laboratories in other districts of the country). The latest laboratories, which have stated the testing: in Dhaka - Bangladesh Institute of Health Sciences and General Hospital, Lab Aid Hospital and Care Medical College and outside Dhaka - Shaheed M. Monsur Ali Medical College, Sirajganj, Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam Medical College, Kishoreganj, Pabna Medical College, Pabna, Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College, Gazipur, TMSS Medical College and Rafatullah Community Hospital, Chevron Clinical Laboratory (Pte) Ltd. Chattogram, Imperial Hospital Limited, Chattogram and Gazi COVID-19 PCR Lab, Rupganj, Narayanganj. Of the total tested samples, 64.9% (164,140/253,034) were tested by laboratories in the Dhaka division, and 35.1% (88,894/253,034) - outside.
The COVID-19 testing coverage has been gradually increasing in Bangladesh, reaching now 1485.6/1,000,000 but is still lower than in Malaysia (14,282/100,000), Thailand (4,700/1000,000), India (2,540/1000,000) and Nepal (1,577/1,000,000).
The graphs below are showing the weekly cumulative number of COVID-19 testing and positivity rate, and tests per 1,000,000, 08 March – 25 May 2020, Bangladesh.
250 T 250 Thousand As of 25 May 2020 225 T
200 T
175 T
150 T
125 T
100 T
75 T
50 T
25 T 08 March 2020 Tests N = 253,014 First Bangladesh case reported Positive N = 35,585 0 T 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Epi Week
12000 1600
# Test Tests/1,000,000 Population 1400 10000 1200 8000 1000
6000 800
600 4000
400 Number of Tests Tests (N=253,014) Number of 2000 200
0 0
11-03 26-03 07-04 10-04 22-04 04-05 07-05 19-05 08-03 14-03 17-03 20-03 23-03 29-03 01-04 04-04 13-04 16-04 19-04 25-04 28-04 01-05 10-05 13-05 16-05 22-05 25-05
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
4. Contact Tracing, Points of Entry (PoEs) and Quarantine
The institutional quarantine capacity in the country is represented by 626 centres across 64 districts, which can receive 31,840 people. Between 17 March to 25 May 2020, total 250,956 individuals were placed under home quarantine all the over the county, and to date 79.3% (199,006/250,956) have been already released. The highest number of individuals (6,547) in quarantine facilities was recorded on 24 April 2020 while on 25 May 2020 the figure reduced by half to 3,455.
By 25 May 2020, in total 6,911 individuals had been isolated in designated health facilitates all over the country, of them 33% (2,258/6,911) were released, and the remaining 4,653 (67%) are presently in Isolation facilities.
The figures below are showing the number of individuals in home and facility quarantine and individuals released, 17 Mach – 25 May 2020, Bangladesh.
250,000 Presently in Quarantine Total Quarantined Total Released
200,000
150,000
100,000
64,005 64,005
63,844 63,844
63,817 63,817
62,444 62,444
62,107 62,107
61,633 61,633
60,877 60,877
59,903 59,903
57,758 57,758
57,455 57,455
56,749 56,749
56,628 56,628
56,295 56,295
55,601 55,601
55,133 55,133
51,950 51,950
51,564 51,564
51,243 51,243
50,502 50,502
48,883 48,883
47,346 47,346
46,085 46,085
45,339 45,339
44,059 44,059
42,823 42,823
42,008 42,008
41,349 41,349
38,165 38,165
36,632 36,632
36,034 36,034
35,692 35,692 35,548 35,548
50,000 34,220
32,844 32,844
32,581 32,581
32,159 32,159 32,159 32,159
30,458 30,458
30,173 30,173
26,290 26,290
23,537 23,537
22,646 22,646
21,221 21,221
21,065 21,065
19,553 19,553
18,613 18,613
16,665 16,665
15,424 15,424
14,854 14,854
12,638 12,638
12,243 12,243
11,553 11,553
9,419 9,419
8,794 8,794
8,469 8,469
5,750 5,750
3,920 3,920
3,760 3,760
3,564 3,564
1,515 1,515
1,387 1,387 -
0
26/03 29/03 01/04 22/04 25/04 28/04 22/05 25/05 17/03 20/03 23/03 04/04 07/04 10/04 13/04 16/04 19/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 13/05 16/05 19/05
15,000 Presently in Quarantine Total Quarantined Total Released
12,000
9,000
6,547 6,547
6,514 6,514
6,481 6,481
6,416 6,416
6,409 6,409
6,311 6,311
6,112 6,112
5,944 5,944
5,860 5,860
5,772 5,772
5,537 5,537
5,430 5,430
5,390 5,390
5,301 5,301 5,295 5,295
6,000 5,105
4,955 4,955
4,926 4,926
4,644 4,644
4,462 4,462
4,339 4,339
4,257 4,257
4,184 4,184 4,184 4,184
4,082 4,082
4,078 4,078
4,073 4,073
4,058 4,058
4,006 4,006
4,003 4,003
3,999 3,999
3,982 3,982
3,932 3,932
3,880 3,880
3,871 3,871
3,680 3,680
3,593 3,593
3,488 3,488
3455
3,263 3,263 2,618 2,618
3,000 2,121
1,817 1,817
1,403 1,403
1,220 1,220
781 781
368 368
233 233
162 162
151 151
146 146
138 138
137 137 137 137
133 133
130 130
117 117
115 115
113 113
101 101
98 98
92 92
84 84
82 82
78 78
70 70
68 68
66 66
64 64 63 63
0
26/03 29/03 01/04 22/04 25/04 28/04 22/05 25/05 17/03 20/03 23/03 04/04 07/04 10/04 13/04 16/04 19/04 01/05 04/05 07/05 10/05 13/05 16/05 19/05
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
5. Case Management and infection Control
On 18 May 2020, the DGHS of the MOHFW issued the updated National Guidelines on Clinical Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The development of the 6th version of the guidelines was led by the CDC/DGHS based on the latest WHO guidelines, adapting to the country’s context with contributions from a number of prominent Bangladeshi clinicians and public health specialists. The document addresses in details the following aspects: Case Definition, Clinical syndromes associated with COVID-19, Testing for COVID-19,Clinical Classification, Treatment Protocol for Hospitalized COVID-19 (Mild/Moderate/Severe) cases,COVID-19 ICU Management Strategies, Caring for older persons with COVID-19, Avoiding medical damage in special populations, Discharge Criteria, Home isolation, Follow-up, Management of patients tested positive again after discharge, and Infection, Prevention and Control. The guidelines specify that every hospital (public and private) will provide treatment to COVID and non-COVID patients. These hospitals shall create separate zone for COVID and non- COVID patients in the hospital premise and a triage system will be applied to classify and differentiate the patients. COVID zone will have two separate areas: one for confirmed COVID and another for suspected or probable COVID patients. The guideline remains a living document and will updated based on the latest evidence and WHO recommendations, as appropriate.
On 18 May, WHO hosted a virtual meeting to discuss Bangladesh’s potential involvement in the WHO-led Solidarity trial and Unity studies. The Solidarity trial is a randomized multi-center adaptive clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of investigational therapeutic agents in combination with standard-of-care for the treatment of hospitalized patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The trial is being carried out under a Master Protocol to continue across outbreak sites until the scientific questions of interest are addressed. The trial is planned in two stages: the first is a Pilot Stage and the second is a Pivotal Stage. To date, around 18 countries have participated with over 3,000 patients enrolled. The Unity studies are adapted from the influenza and MERS-CoV protocols to help enhance understanding of clinical, epidemiological and virological characteristics of COVID-19.
On 21 May, a webinar was hosted by IFC, focusing on procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and the specifications required by WHO, UN agencies and international organizations. The main target group of the webinar was local manufacturers of PPE. WFP made a presentation on the joint global supply portal managed by WFP and WHO. The supply portal is part of the work of the UN COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force, which aims at ensuring essential supplies for countries in need. Instructions were provided to local PPE manufacturers on how to participate in the global tender, managed by UNICEF and WHO. WFP, UNICEF IOM and WHO also provided information on the local procurement opportunities and which commodities are eligible for local procurement. The UN catalogue containing PPE, diagnostics, and biomedical equipment & consumables was shared with participants following the meeting.
In the same webinar, WHO presented the Disease Commodity Package for COVID-19, which includes the WHO specifications for PPE. WHO also presented the minimum testing parameters required for the Bangladeshi market, which is approved by the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). An interactive question and answer session covered a range of topics from market forecast to genera information about COVID-19. Several local manufacturers claimed that they are now able to manufacture significant quantities of PPE, in conformity with WHO specifications. This has a potential to address PPE shortages at local level, as well as helping to address the global shortages as Bangladesh has been a major exporter of ready-made-garments (RMG) and currently numerous large RMG manufacturers are converting their production lines to PPE production.
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WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Report #13 25 May 2020
6. Risk Communication and Public Awareness
WHO continues working with Risk Communication and Public Awareness (RCCE) partners for production and dissemination of information materials aimed at guiding individuals and communities on protecting against COVID-19.
A special attention has been placed by RCCE on creating and rapid dissemination of COVID-19 information materials in relation to the Cyclone Amphan, including information for evacuation to the shelter, safety during the staying in the shelter and for returning home. Information have been covering essential awareness topics such as maintaining physical distance, observing hand hygiene and wearing masks in the shelter, constantly disinfecting commonly used areas or disinfection of personal items following the return home.
RCCE partners also focused on creating information materials addressed to worshippers following the reopening of mosques and in the light of Eid celebration, with key messages to stay at home and to avoid mass gatherings and crowded places. Messages for religious leaders have been further circulated to enforce the COVID-19 safety guidelines for worshippers attending mosques, with a key view on maintaining physical distance, masks wearing, observing hand hygiene and encouraging praying from home for people showing symptoms similar to COVID-19.
Within the taskforce to produce risk communication messages for frontline service providers co-led by DGHS and WHO, messages for health sector are being produced in line with national and WHO guidelines for further ensuring protection of health staff and patients against COVID-19 while delivery of essential health services continues.
7. Useful COVID-19 links:
WHO Bangladesh COVID-19 Situation Reports: https://www.who.int/bangladesh/emergencies/coronavirus-disease- (covid-19)-update/coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-bangladesh-situation-reports
The latest global WHO Situation Report # 125 as of 24 May 2020: https://www.who.int/docs/default- source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200524-covid-19-sitrep-125.pdf?sfvrsn=80e7d7f0_2
WHO Bangladesh awareness and risk communication materials in Bengali: https://www.who.int/bangladesh/emergencies/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-update
For timely, accurate, and easy-to-understand advice and information on COVID-19 for different types of audiences (e.g. individuals and communities, health sector, employers and workers, faith-based organizations and faith leaders, etc): https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication
For the information from the IEDCR: https://www.iedcr.gov.bd/index.php/component/content/article/73-ncov-2019
Directorate General of Health services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh: https://dghs.gov.bd/index.php/en/home/5343-covid-19-update
Contact: Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, [email protected] Dr Hammam El Sakka, Team Leader,12 | P WHE, a g e WHO-BAN, [email protected]