Police official among first two Covid-19 cases in Thanchi

A 38-year-old man and a police official have tested positive in Bandarban's remote Thanchi upazila.

Dr Wahiduzzaman Murad, health and family planning officer of the upazila, said they got the results of the duo's coronavirus test yesterday night.

"We sent both their swabs to Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) on Thursday, but we got the report after five days," the doctor said. 

Both were admitted at the Thanchi Health Complex with almost no symptoms, the doctor said.

However, both had claimed that they had fever earlier, he said.

Currently the police official is undergoing treatment at the health complex and the 38-year-old man at Bandarban Sadar Hospital's isolation unit, said Dr Wahiduzzaman.

The younger brother of the 38-year-old said, "My elder brother had fever on April 10 at our house at Boro Madok area and we took him to the upazila health complex on April 15."

He said they did not know how his brother -- a contractor by profession -- contracted the virus, or whether he came into contact with a Covid-19 positive patient.

The other infected -- the police official -- was on duty at the Sonali Bank in Thanchi.

It could not be known immediately whether he came into contact with a Covid-19 patient, said Md Saifuddin Anwar, officer-in-charge of Thanchi Police Station.