Jehangir Hussain :
Could the plummeting Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh be the deceptive calm before a fresh wave Covid-19 pandemic hits the unsuspecting nation, warned public health experts.
The experts are apprehensive of a third wave of the Covid pandemic. They cautioned that children below 12 and the elderly people would be at greater risks of the new wave of the pandemic.
The authorities ought to take the warning seriously as the children have not been vacci8natedf against corona virus. The health experts rightly pointed out that the slow pace of vaccination, the deadly virus developing immunity against vaccine, disregard for Covid-safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travels might facilitate the third Covid pandemic wave in Bangladesh, as many European countries are witnessing.
On Thursday five deaths and 244 new infections were reported in Bangladesh, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
If that statistics is correct, the death toll reached 27,939 and the number of people infected until then stood at 1,573,458. According to official statistics 33,995,948 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 52,983,555 received the first dose of the corona vaccine. According to public health experts the second wave of the pandemic was under control in Bangladesh.
This relaxed the authorities about the pandemic though there are reasons for them not to be so complacent, quite rightly cautioned the experts. The experts warned due to complacence the situation deteriorated in several European countries, with Bulgaria and Romania, in particular have been struck by a new wave of the deadly pandemic.
The coronavirus infection is also soaring in Iran and some areas in China. It would be totally wrong, warned the experts, to be complacent that Bangladesh would not be hit by another wave of the deadly pandemic in the current winter.
With the lockdowns over in Bangladesh, most people are now reluctant to adhere to the basic health safety rules, including wearing masks or maintaining distancing between persons at public places.
Bangladesh could, until now, fully vaccinate only around 20 per cent of its people in other words 80 per cent of the country’s population is still unprotected. Given this basic reality, Bangladesh can ill afford to remain relaxed instead of paying heed to the timely warning bell sounded by the experts.
No country is immune from a fresh outbreak of the pandemic as long as the virus is not totally stamped out. Many countries have seen fresh outbreaks after they reported zero infection.
The experts also advised the authorities not to take easily sporadic cases of corona infection in Bangladesh with 250 daily cases on an average. It can turn into a community transmission anytime as there is no travel restriction in place.
Moreover, cautioned the experts, a deadly muted variant can hit the country. They said that some of the countries are witnessing a fresh wave of the pandemic though most of their people have been vaccinated.
Being densely populated with 80 per cent of people in Bangladesh remaining unvaccinated the country is at the risk of a fresh wave of infection by the deadly virus. Experts also cautioned from the experience of other nations, that even those fully vaccinated could be infected if a fresh wave of the pandemic hits when the elderly and the children would be more vulnerable.
They called for strengthening the monitoring system so that the nation could be saved from the possibility of the pandemic taking fresh tolls.
They also called for prioritising the immunization of the elderly people in Bangladesh. The visitors from virus-hit countries should not be allowed to enter Bangladesh without negative test reports.
Unvaccinated foreigners also should not be allowed entry. And Bangladesh also can ban travels by people from countries with high level of corona infection. Experts rightly advised the government to put in place contact tracing and increased rapid antigen tests to quickly identify the infected persons to isolate them.
The authorities should strictly screen all incoming passengers at airports, land ports and sea ports to check the entry of infected people from abroad, they said.
(The writer is a senior journalist. Email: [email protected]).
