Countries around the world enforced lockdown measures to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic. Bangladesh also followed the suit.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported of as many as 40 deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, the highest since the first fatality was confirmed on March 18, yet the country lifted an over two-month nationwide shutdown.
On the same day, it also recorded some 2,545 positive cases, also a single-day high for Bangladesh since the first case emerged on March 8.
The virus situation in Bangladesh has deteriorated due to lack of strict application of shutdown measures.
Public health experts warn of more difficult times ahead as coronavirus infections are on the rise despite two months general holidays. They also fear that peak of outbreak are yet to come.
Experts attributed lax shutdown measures, sudden reopening of garment factories and shopping centers on the occasion of Eid and languid maintenance of social-distancing guidelines to the rise in corona infection and deaths.
Meanwhile, the outcome of the lifted general holidays will be visible after two or three weeks.
The general holidays started from March 26. But exactly one month later, on April 26, the garment factories were reopened. In the 10th week of virus’s spread (May 10-16), the situation in the country began to deteriorate rapidly. Since then, the virus cases and death rates have been rising.
“Many people returned to Dhaka from their village homes are more likely to be infected at once,” said Public Health expert Dr. Mushtaq Hossain. “Even if offices opened at the downtown Motijheel following the hygienic rules, crowd on the streets, would spread the infection.
“We are not taking steps to reduce the spread of the disease, we are only working to increase it. If steps are taken to reduce the infection, the results will be available in four to six weeks,” he added.
“No one comply with the home quarantine. And even movement of people cannot be restricted during the general holidays. So, how did the shutdown come into effect?”, questioned Prof. Dr. Nazrul Islam, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). “The consequences of lifting shutdown will be terrible. The way people left Dhaka and came back after the Eid holidays, the number of patients will jump after the incubation period of 14 days,” he added. Dr Nazrul Islam, also former Chairman of BSMMU’s Virology Department and a member of the National Technical Committee on Covid-19, suggested imposing strict social-distancing measures in the areas where most Covid-19 patients were detected. The authorities concerned should also strictly control movement of people in these areas.
Dr Tawfiq Joarder, another public health expert, said: ” A stringent lockdown measures were necessary to contain the spread of the virus. But we missed the ‘opportunity’ due to poor enforcement of lockdown.”
He cited that at the very beginning of the spread Bangladesh was in a good position. About 85 per cent of the patients remained in the surrounding districts of Dhaka.
But the situation deteriorated rapidly when the lockdown was put in place in ineffectively. However, he said, the lockdown, some benefits, otherwise the patient would have been more. Being Dhaka epicenter of the virus, Dr Tawfiq Joarder, an Executive Director at the Public Health Bangladesh, mentioned, “The pandemic could be managed well if the surroundings of the city could be totally locked.”
Dr. Zahidur Rahman, Assistant Professor of Virology Department at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka said, “Bangladesh has lost the opportunity of the lockdown because it cannot be enforced effectively. Now it will be outburst.” He observed, “Even though we have been talking about general holidays from the beginning, we have seen it as a lockdown. Many obeyed the lockdown rules and even many also disobeyed it.” The death toll and the caseload were lower than many other countries at the very beginning of the spread. But now it is going up rapidly.
“If strict lockdown measures were enforced in the hotspot districts like Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur, 80 per cent of the spread could have been controlled,” he added.
He also said that from the beginning, most of the patients were being identified in these areas.
Atik Ahsan, a medical anthropologist, said if there had been a 40-day lockdown, the situation would have been in favour. He observed that people went out of the city in phases after the announcement of general holidays. Even a large number of garment workers also left Dhaka and retuned to the city causing rapid spread of the infection. “The current situation is not the ‘effect’ of the Eid holidays, but its previous effect,” he said.
Atik Ahsan also said the effect of the lifting general holidays will be seen on 16th June. Again the result of Eid holidays will be seen on 10th June. And then what will be seen is much more infection than the number of deaths. “We passed a critical stage of lockdown missing its ‘opportunity.’ And now there is no chance of getting back the opportunity that we have missed.”
Bangladesh marked the first working day after its two-month coronavirus lockdown on Sunday amid visible scenes of breaching health guidelines and social distancing norms.
The government imposed a nationwide general holidays on March 26 in the wake of the coronavirus and extended it until May 30 with several extensions.
It, however, lifted the shutdown at a time when the pandemic began to soar with the new fatality and infection records, raising concerns that the outbreak may yet worsen in the days to come. “The removal of ‘lockdown’ could endanger the country when the infections intensified. It could force authorities to impose a fresh lockdown,” said Dr. Shahed Rafi Pavel Chairman of Bangladesh Doctors’ Foundation (BDF).
The global coronavirus death toll reached 377,515 on Tuesday morning. It has so far infected 6,370,471 people around the world, according to Worldometer.
Of the currently infected 3,088,324 patients, 3,034,921 are in mild condition while 53,403 are in serious or critical condition.
So far, 2,904,632 people have made recovery from the disease in different countries. Coronavirus is affecting over 213 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances.The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a pandemic on March 11.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed 52,445 coronavirus cases and 709 deaths.
On Tuesday, Bangladesh recorded its highest daily rise in coronavirus infections since the outbreak began in the country.
DGHS reported a further 2,911 cases in the past 24 hours. Besides, 37 more deaths from coronavirus were recorded during the period.
