Dhaka on Sunday decided to close borders with neighbouring India for two weeks amid the surge of Covid-19 across India. The neighbouring country is going through a harrowing second wave of Covid-19. The number of cases surged by 349,691 in the 24 hours ending on Sunday, the fourth straight day of record peaks. Hospitals in Delhi and across India are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and Covid-19 beds. The decision of closing the borders is indeed to tackle Indian mutant from trespassing into Bangladesh. The government should warn border guards and law enforcers to strictly enforce the decision and get expected result.
Public health experts said if Indian mutant variant of Covid-19 virus enters Bangladesh, the healthcare facilities here would collapse due to its rapid surge. In these circumstances, experts expressed serious concern over the spread of the Indian variant in Bangladesh through the movement of people living along the border who visit India frequently. Experts called upon the government to halt all land, water and air connectivity with the neighbouring country to stop influx of the Indian variant virus. The pandemic situation has already taken a serious turn in Delhi and West Bengal. Several variants of the deadly virus, are responsible for its rapid spread there. Even in March, we found about 300 to 400 people were infected there, but now the infection has crossed the 10,000-mark. It is really dangerous for our people who visit India frequently. The two Indian variants might be more infectious than other variants, several genome scientists of the Bangladesh said.
The government should not only close borders but also close all routes of connectivity till such time as the situation improves. We should also consider imposing a travel ban. The situation inside our country has not yet come under firm control although the current spell of lockdown has visibly led to fall in both fatality and infection rates. The authorities should concentrate on consolidating the improvement. And this calls for plugging in loopholes. The authorities concerned need to ensure that order for closing the border is observed without fail.
