Confusions have clouded new Health Directorate estimates updated in a matter of 24 hours that show more than 1,000 people have recovered from coronavirus, bdnews24.com reports.
The figure for recovery on Saturday was 177 after three more won the battle against the deadly illness in the preceding 24 hours.
In the Sunday brief, DGHS Additional Director General Nasima Sultana put the total number of recovered patients at 1,063, a whopping rise in the past 24 hours. The uplifting statistics, she said, was based on new calculations done following 'revised guidelines'.
But the factors at play in this dramatic leap in the number of people surviving the deadly illness remain unclear.
A total of 624 patients were discharged from hospitals in Dhaka while 272 others recovered outside the capital, according to Nasima.
"There is a clinical management committee for cases of recovery and they have made a new guideline which sets a criterion for when we can say a patient has recovered and when they can leave hospitals. So, 1,063 patients have recovered under this criterion," she said.
DGHS officials were contacted for a better understanding of the development, but the explanations remained vague.
According to previous guidelines, the sample of a person who tested positive for coronavirus would be tested again after 14 days. If it came back negative, another test would follow seven days later. If results again return negative, the patient would once again be tested within 72 hours and if the result is still negative, that individual would be put on the list of recoveries and advised to remain in three-week quarantine on discharge from hospital.
"According to the new guidelines, if a patient has clinically recovered, meaning if they do not have fever, cough or respiratory problem for three consecutive days, they would be released and sent back home to remain in isolation for two weeks," virologist Prof Dr Nazrul Islam, who advises the national technical committee said.
The tests which were conducted in hospitals previously would be carried out at home, he said.
However, he was tight-lipped when asked how the information of a patient who recovers at home would be collated.
Also, the question as to whether a person would be considered to have recovered if no symptoms show in two-three days went unanswered.
But Md Habibur Rahman Khan, additional secretary to the health ministry, gave a different explanation.
"We have been providing information on the hospitals in Dhaka all these days. From today, details coming in from all over the country are being added up. This has caused the number of recoveries to surge," he said.
"From today information on patients recovering from hospitals all over the country will be provided. This is what Health Directorate's Additional Director General Nasima Sultana told me," he said.
Nasima Sultana could not be reached for her comments on the issue.
The DGHS has been subject to criticism in social media about its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.0
Bangladesh confirmed two more deaths from the coronavirus in a daily count, taking the total to 177 on Sunday.
The tally of COVID-19 infections spiralled to 9,455 in the same period after another 665 people tested positive from 5,368 samples in the biggest single-day spike.
