Bangladesh’s health authorities will resume limited Covid-19 testing at public hospitals following a recent uptick in infections, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) announced on Wednesday.

Testing will initially be reinstated at medical college and district-level hospitals equipped with RT-PCR laboratories, said Professor Halimur Rashid, Director of the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) wing at the DGHS.

“Hospitals with existing RT-PCR labs have been instructed to prepare for renewed testing operations,” he told reporters, adding that test kits are currently being sourced from local suppliers. 

The Central Medical Stores Depot (CMSD) has also been tasked with importing additional kits from international vendors to meet expected demand.

“We expect testing to resume within the next 10 days, albeit on a limited scale at first,” Professor Rashid said.

Covid-19 testing had been largely suspended across most of the country as infections declined in recent months. 

However, with fresh cases now on the rise, public health officials are taking precautionary steps to ensure early detection and response.

The DGHS is also reviewing contingency plans to expand testing capacity if the upward trend continues.

SMS/