Covid-19: Cases Rise To 39 In Bangladesh After Two With No Travel Or Contact History Test Positive

Two persons infected with Covid-19 in Bangladesh have no history of foreign travel or contact with any foreign-returnee, thus triggering apprehensions that they could be the first cases of community transmission of the virus.

Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the head of Bangladesh's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR) said the coronavirus “may have spread at the community level, but on a limited scale”.

The two persons who tested positive had not come in direct contact with anyone who had travelled abroad or returned from a foreign country recently. “The source of their infection is not known,” said the IEDCR Director.

The area where the suspected community transmission had taken place has been locked down, and all its residents isolated.

Bangladesh has so far reported 39 Covid-19 positive cases, of who five have died. Nine have recovered and 25 are still undergoing treatment.