Staff Reporter :
The coronavirus has been confirmed in more than 25 countries and territories since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, raising concerns about a potential global pandemic.
Epidemiologists and experts around the world are worried about how much further it could spread and how many people will get injected if it trasforms into a full-blown pandemic.
Though WHO is yet to declare it a truly global outbreak or pandemic, officials are preparing for the possibility that the world will have to face.
What is a pandemic?
The description is reserved for an infectious disease threatening lots of people all over the world simultaneously.
A recent example was the 2009 swine flu pandemic, which experts think killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Pandemics are more likely if a virus is brand new, able to infect people easily and can spread from person to person in an efficient and sustained way.
Coronavirus appears to tick all of those boxes.
With no vaccine or treatment that can prevent it yet, containing its spread is vital.
When is a pandemic declared?
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) description of pandemic phases, coronavirus is only a step away from being a pandemic.
It is spreading between people and has been seen in many of China’s neighbouring countries, as well as further afield.If we start seeing sustained community-level outbreaks in multiple parts of the world, then it will be a pandemic.
How likely is that?
It is still unclear how severe the disease is, and how far it will spread. WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the spread outside of China so far appears to be “minimal and slow”.
There have been more than 17,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and around 360 deaths, mostly in China.
Outside China, there are more than 150 confirmed cases of the virus – and one death, in the Philippines.
“If we invest in fighting at the epicentre, at the source, then the spread to other countries is minimal and also slow,” Dr Ghebreyesus told a WHO executive board meeting on Monday.
Each pandemic is different and, until a virus starts circulating, it is impossible to predict its full effects.
Experts suspect that coronavirus may be less deadly than some other recent disease outbreaks, such as Sars.
The decision by the World Health Organization to declare the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) was taken primarily because of the signs of human-to-human transmission outside China, and what might happen if the virus were to spread in a country with a weaker health system.
WHO says although countries should take steps to prevent and limit further spread of the virus, there is no reason yet for measures which unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.
When health authorities around the world are working with threadbare data to walk the line between pandemic readiness, preparation is not adequate in Bangladesh even if the new Wuhan strain is exceptionally challenging to control.
The first airlift from China that brought back 361 Bangladeshi citizens in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province, many health experts point to the country’s ill-preparedness to deal with a public health emergency.
The returning passengers, including women and children, have been put up at an isolation centre in Ashkona Hajj Camp for further observation.
“The evacuation brought a sigh of relief among the returning Bangladeshis and their families, but fear grows over a potential outbreak of the virus here in case of mishandling the situation and lack of proper preventive measures,” said Professor Dr. Muzaherul Huq, former Advisor of World Health Organisation (WHO) of South Asia.
He said the returnee Bangladeshi citizens should be taken outside Dhaka by setting up a makeshift hospital what China does recently. Isolation unit inside Dhaka may raise risk of a possible outbreak of the virus due to the city’s population density. “Since there is no cure in sight for coronavirus and an outbreak can quickly turn uncontrollable,” he added stressing the importance of preventive measures.
“A makeshift hospital can be set up on the Biswa Ijtema ground to reduce risk when Bangladesh lacks the necessary healthcare capabilities required to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to a public health emergency, said Dr Huq, adding, “Aircrafts carrying passengers from China must be disinfected as part of a preventive measure.”
He also said the adequate number of medics should be provided training to handle a possible virus outbreak in the country.
