4 IEDCR employees test positive for Covid-19; Director Meerjady Flora quarantined

Star Online Report

Four employees of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) have tested positive for Covid-19.

Eight others, including IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora and Chief of Virology Lab Prof ASM Alamgir, have been sent to home quarantine, in this connection.

Prof Nasima Sultana, additional director (admin) of the Directorate General of Health Services, confirmed this to The Daily Star.

“Four of the sample collectors and related staffers have tested positive. For this, eight, including the director and chief of virology lab, are in home quarantine,” Prof Nasima Sultana said, adding that those who were infected are under treatment at a hospital in the capital.

The four staffers tested positive for coronavirus on April 7. No new staff tested positive after that, said Habibur Rahman Khan, additional secretary of the Health Service Division of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

Following this, IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora and some others are now working from home, he added.

Talking to The Daily Star, Prof Sabrina said, “We are continuing our work by maintaining social distance.”