With six more deaths in last 24 hours, the death toll reached at 27 and the total number of infected was 424 in Bangladesh on Friday. In the last few days, the number of cases in Dhaka has risen steadily; the number of new cases was 20 on Tuesday (April 7), 39 on April 8 and 62 on April 9. The rise in cases outside Dhaka was not steady; 21, 15 and 50 respectively. About 582 tests were taken in Dhaka and 97 outside on Tuesday. The next day, it was 622 tests in Dhaka and 359 outside. On Thursday, it was 555 tests in Dhaka and 350 outside. So we are now entering the third phase of the pandemic with cases becoming local in terms of transmission. We have failed to put our returnees from abroad in self-quarantine and are now paying the price in terms of transmission, which is starting to occur locally. So we are just at the point before the curve begins to turn exponential.
Self isolation has worked in helping only the top few percent of the population who can afford to not work. The lower economic groups are in deep trouble–especially those who earn their daily wages to feed themselves. A majority of the population can’t sustain the lockdown for an indefinite period. The health care scenario is still abysmal. Patients complain that private hospitals are reluctant to take in patients who are suspected of the disease. Public hospitals are also denying entry unless the patients can prove that they have tested positive for COVID-19. So a true COVID-19 patient will fall in a catch and-22 situation, if he can’t prove that he has the disease then he won’t get admitted to a public hospital, and if he can prove that he has the disease then he can’t get admitted to a private one.
We need more tests and more stringent quarantine rules–but even if we find out more patients do we have the ability to treat them? We need many more PPEs, masks, ventilators than the nation has. While we can make PPEs and are starting to make ventilators, only time can tell whether we will have enough to combat the virus.
Self isolation has worked in helping only the top few percent of the population who can afford to not work. The lower economic groups are in deep trouble–especially those who earn their daily wages to feed themselves. A majority of the population can’t sustain the lockdown for an indefinite period. The health care scenario is still abysmal. Patients complain that private hospitals are reluctant to take in patients who are suspected of the disease. Public hospitals are also denying entry unless the patients can prove that they have tested positive for COVID-19. So a true COVID-19 patient will fall in a catch and-22 situation, if he can’t prove that he has the disease then he won’t get admitted to a public hospital, and if he can prove that he has the disease then he can’t get admitted to a private one.
We need more tests and more stringent quarantine rules–but even if we find out more patients do we have the ability to treat them? We need many more PPEs, masks, ventilators than the nation has. While we can make PPEs and are starting to make ventilators, only time can tell whether we will have enough to combat the virus.
