UNB Khulna correspondent reports that everything has been finalised at the facility at KMCH to start testing people, while the Khulna Diabetic Hospital has been prepared to provide treatment exclusively to any COVID-19 patients.

Assistant Professor SM Tushar Alam of the Microbiology Department at KMCH said the PCR machine has been set up on the third floor of the hospital, where a molecular laboratory had been established earlier.

Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque will formally inaugurate the testing station at 12pm, he said.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), the specialised institute under the Directorate General of Health Services that is leading the government’s efforts in tackling the Coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh, provided training to seven physicians at KMCH, while 700 testing kits have already arrived at the hospital, Dr Tushar added.

He also said the facility at KMCH will be capable of testing 90 samples at a time, and the results will be known within four hours.

According to the Khulna Civil Surgeon’s office, 29 people were sent to home quarantine in the last 24 hours in the district, while 41 were released.

Meanwhile, Khulna Diabetic Hospital has been kept ready for coronavirus patients while the doctors and nurses have been trained at the hospital, said Dr Mehedi Newaz, vice principal of KMCH.

Only coronavirus infected patients will be treated at the isolation wards of Khulna Diabetic Hospital, and before their tests come back all the patients will be kept in the ICU at KMCH.

In Sylhet, SOMCH will start its mission from Tuesday with capability of testing 94 samples in a day.

Dr Himangshu Lal Roy, deputy director of the hospital, said establishing the laboratory is almost complete at the Microbiology and Virology departments at the hospital.

“If the machine gets functional, we’ll start testing from Tuesday,” he added.

No fees will be charged from those tested but nobody will be allowed to walk in demanding a test, Dr Roy said, adding that doctors will collect samples from upazilas.

He also clarified that SOMCH would not be announcing test results locally. Rather they will pass them on to IEDCR.

Earlier, besides IEDCR, Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Chattogram and Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) started testing for the novel coronavirus infection, or COVID-19, in the country.

Bangladesh on Monday reported three more deaths from the disease, the highest single-day spike since the first fatality was reported on March 18. It took the total number of deaths to 12.

Besides, 35 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, also the highest single-day increase, raising the number to 123.

It meant the number of cases in Bangladesh doubled over a period of just 3 days, having stood at 61 last Friday.