As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Bangladesh, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has reduced the fees for RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests at private hospitals.
From now on, private hospitals and clinics will not be allowed to charge more than Tk 2,000 for RT-PCR tests and Tk 500 for rapid antigen tests, reports bdnews24.com.
Until now, private hospitals and diagnostic centres had been charging Tk 3,000 for RT-PCR and Tk 700 for antigen tests.
The new directive was issued on Wednesday by Dr Halimur Rashid, line director of the Communicable Disease Control unit at DGHS, and sent to all private hospitals and clinics in the country.
The decision to revise testing fees at private facilities was made at a meeting of the committee on COVID-19 diagnostics and laboratory management on Tuesday.
The directive warned of legal action against any institution found to be charging more than the newly fixed rates.
So far this year, 617 people have tested positive for COVID-19, with 23 deaths reported.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in 2020, a total of 2,052,162 COVID-19 cases have been detected in the country, with 29,522 deaths.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the virus claimed 7,559 lives. The deadliest year was 2021, with 20,513 deaths. In the following years, 1,368 died in 2022, 37 in 2023, and 22 in 2024.
Due to a rise in infections from a new COVID-19 subvariant in India and other nearby countries, and concerns over its potential spread, the DGHS has issued renewed warnings.
The Communicable Disease Control unit has advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel to India and other affected countries. It has also instructed authorities to strengthen health screening and surveillance at all land ports and airports.
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