TO prevent spread of the coronavirus, Bangladesh Police Headquarters recently issued a letter instructing all police units in the country to ensure the availability of hand-washing or sanitising facilities on their premises. According to a media report, the letter signed last week by Assistant Inspector General (Health and Education) also instructed all unit officials not to keep any birds or animals on the compounds of government residences. The letter also gave a brief description on how the virus spreads, symptoms and its prevention, along with instructions to keep police outposts, stations and barracks clean and arrange briefing for all officials by doctors or civil surgeons. Although coronavirus has not been reported in Bangladesh yet, the initiative of PHQs is undoubtedly appreciable. Coronavirus is the name of the latest terror disease which has spread a wave of horror across the globe. No immediate remedy is found yet to tackle its fatal bite. On Monday, Chinese government said nearly 1,800 have so far died and more than 70,000 were infected.
On the other hand, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ji Liming on Monday advised us not to bring back 172 Bangladeshi students from China’s Hubei Province as there is a risk of spreading coronavirus. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has stopped on-arrival visas for Chinese citizens and they are asked by their embassy not to visit China from Bangladesh for now. So, in this context the initiative of PHQs is highly recommendable. We’ve however no idea whether other disciplined forces have taken such awareness measures in the meantime. The job of police is public-oriented. Specially, the members of police stations and outposts have to keep round-the-clock touch with the general people for different reasons. The members of Traffic Department also have to work on the open roads with public-carrying transports. We think an awareness programme — like anti-coronavirus drive — would be more effective if it is done with the involvement of any disciplined force.
To check the global health threat, all the disciplined forces along with government, non-government and private organizations should take similar precautionary measures immediately.
