By Sumi Khan
Dhaka, Jun 22 (IANS): China will submit four specific reports to Bangladesh containing recommendations on how Bangladesh can better deal with the coronavirus situation. The reports will be handed over to the Health Ministry of Bangladesh through the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka within a week as the Chinese medical expert team sent by the Chinese government concluded its COVID-19 combating mission in Bangladesh on Monday ending a two-week visit on Monday.
"As a close neighbor and strategic partner, Bangladesh will be among the first countries to receive the vaccines from China," said Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Yan.
His comments came hours after Beijing said an institute of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences launched a second phase human trial of a possible coronavirus vaccine aimed to fix the shot doses and evaluate further its effectiveness and safety.
Meanwhile, a medical expert team sent by the Chinese government arrived in Bangladesh on June 8 to support Bangladesh's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As Bangladesh's fight against COVID-19 continued to become fiercer, President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 20.
During the talks, Xi reassured Hasina of standing by Bangladesh in the war against COVID-19. The team is organised by the National Health Commission and consists of 10 respiratory physicians selected by the Hainan Provincial Health Commission, according to the officials at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka.
In their two-week stay in Bangladesh, the experts visited designated hospitals, quarantine centres, and testing centres, discussed the epidemic with Bangladeshi counterparts, and made calibrated propositions for containment and treatment. The 10-member team of experts of China, who have the firsthand experience of containing the virus and treating patients with remarkable success, came to Bangladesh with medical equipment.
They identified lack of public awareness as one of the problems in Bangladesh. Dr Shuming Xianyu made a presentation on their works. Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka Hualong Hualong Yan, who accompanied the team during all the meetings, said it is difficult to say whether peak has arrived in Bangladesh or not. Yan said the researchers can only say how long the virus will last in the world. "Cooperation is very important bilaterally and multilaterally," said the diplomat adding that one country alone cannot solve the problem.
The Chinese experts said that the virus can survive in a patient's body for 60 days in extreme cases with two weeks of incubation period. On the reemergence of positive symptoms in a patient's body after recovery, the team led by Li Wenxiu pointed at two possible reasons; there is perhaps something wrong with the test results and no permanent immunity is obtained after recovery. About the measures of successful determination of the suspected cases, the experts advised to check on contact history, typical symptoms, abnormal blood routine, and lung CT image.
Hualong Yan added they find the situation totally different in Bangladesh compared to China and the team suggested ways that suit the situation of Bangladesh. During two weeks of interactions, the Bangladesh side highlighted their current challenges and the experts sought to guide them sharing the successful experience on containment and prevention of the pandemic as well as treatments of COVID patients achieved in Wuhan and other parts of China.