UNB :
As the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 has made its way into Dhaka and other districts from frontier ones, experts fear an impending health catastrophe in the coming weeks since there is no strict measure in place to stop it.
They said half-hearted preventive measures, lack of seriousness of local administrations, reopening of intra-district transport services and people’s apathy to maintain health safety guidelines are the major reasons behind the worsening Covid situation in the country.
The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research has recently found 80 percent of a randomly selected sample of 50 Covid patients infected with the Delta variant.
It also said the deadly variant has spread to parts of central Bangladesh, including the capital, while seven workers of Ashrayan Project in Nawabganj upazila of Dhaka have been detected with the same virus strain.
The sudden spike in virus cases has put a severe strain on four major hospitals —Rajshahi Medical College, Khulna Medical College, Chapainawabganj and Kushtia General Hospital-with increasing patients from 11 nearby districts.
Experts said the government should immediately increase the number of beds, doctors and nurses and treatment facilities, in these hospitals to cope with the pressure of Covid patients.
The virus infection has been showing an upward trend in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Kushtia, Jashore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Natore, Noakhali and Cox’s Bazar districts for several days.
Many hospitals in these districts have not yet been equipped with central oxygen supply, necessary ICU beds, high-flow nasal cannula and other Covid treatment facilities, contributing to increasing the fatality rate.
Prof Dr Mohammod Robed Amin, spokesperson of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said it seems a terrible time ahead as the rate of Covid transmission has been increasing alarmingly.
“Our infection rate had come down to below 7 percent early last month, but it’s now growing gradually. Our virus transmission has become unstable. Over 12,000 cases have been reported in the last 8 days of this month,” he said.
Robed said the highly infectious Delta variant has already hit many frontier districts and it is now spreading to different other areas of the country. “We’re unable to contain the virus transmission locally. Some people with the variant have already been identified in Dhaka. It’s very alarming.”
