Prevalence of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, April to October 2020—a cross-sectional study

Abstract

<i>Objective:</i> The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of symptomatic and asymptomatic laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases among the population of Bangladesh. <i>Methods:</i> A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Dhaka City and other districts of Bangladesh between April 18 and October 12, 2020. A total of 32 districts outside Dhaka were randomly selected, and one village and one mahalla was selected from each district; 25 mahallas were selected from Dhaka City. From each village or mahalla, 120 households were enrolled through systematic random sampling. <i>Results:</i> A total of 44 865 individuals were interviewed from 10 907 households. The majority (70%, <i>n</i> = 31 488) of the individuals were <40 years of age. Almost half of the individuals (49%, <i>n</i> = 21 888) reported more than four members in their household. It was estimated that 12.6% (<i>n</i> = 160) of the households had one or more severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected individuals, among whom 0.9% (<i>n</i> = 404) of individuals had at least one COVID-19-like symptom, at the national level. The prevalence of COVID-19 in the general population was 6.4%. Among the SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals, 87% were asymptomatic. <i>Conclusions:</i> The substantial high number of asymptomatic cases all over Bangladesh suggests that community-level containment and mitigation measures are required to combat COVID-19. Future studies to understand the transmission capability could help to define mitigation and control measures.