London based magazine The Economist referring to a study said infections are rising fast in South Asia, while in Dhaka the infection number could be as high as 750,000. The real number of people infected with coronavirus in Bangladesh can be far worse than the official national tally because of the low number of tests. Over the last week, the government lifted lockdown to relieve the battered economy but the action comes with the possibility of spreading the contagion rapidly. Now amidst a massive surge, the government is planning to re-impose strict lockdown. Meanwhile, it has been proven that the government’s reluctance to improve the preparedness of healthcare for COVID-19 and ineptness in enforcing lockdown instead of just allowing a ‘general leave’ in combination with poor healthcare service and management are responsible for the quick spread.
Finding places in morgues, cemeteries and crematoria is also becoming a challenge.
One municipal graveyard managed 575 burials in May, against the usual record of fewer than 250 burials in a typical month. But only 70 of the last month’s 575 burials were recorded as victims of Covid-19. In Chattogram, gravediggers said there are many deaths than what is normally usual.
In the wake of rising Covid-19 deaths and infections across the country, the government on Sunday started enforcing containment zones on a pilot basis in some areas of four districts, including Dhaka. The aim is to stem the spread of the virus by putting all those infected in isolation centres and by conducting contact tracing effectively. Some urban areas of Narayanganj, Gazipur and Narsingdi would also be put under strict lockdown.
Experts have suggested that a strict lockdown be imposed, even if needed with a curfew, as the number of the virus infections is increasing continuously. It is their medical advice. But they must have the understanding of policy decisions necessary to make the suggestion workable. Lockdown in an impoverished country like ours is a luxury our people cannot afford. They are not looters and thus cant be overnight millionaires. Most of them survive by day to day earnings. The people’s money have to be used to supply free food. The government officials must not take full fat salaries and rich benefits when people are starving because they are asked to remain locked down.
