A news report published in this daily on Monday said that Bangladesh once again shattered all the previous records of a single-day deaths of 164 people in 24 hours till Monday morning since its first detection on March 8 last year, pushing up the death toll to 15,065. Besides, 9,964 new cases were recorded during the period, taking the total number of people infected to 954,871.
With the Covid cases soaring in bordering districts clearly because of the highly contagious Indian Delta variant, health experts had warned that the country might face the worst outbreak of the deadly virus by the first week of July. If the virus can make its way into other areas from the bordering districts, they warned, the country may likely witness more than 20,000 cases a day, raising the fatality rate sharply. They also blamed the Health Ministry’s failure to arrange necessary oxygen supply, adequate ICUs and beds at Covid-dedicated hospitals across the country in spite of advance warning. It seems that the experts’ prediction is coming true, given the rise in pandemic cases all over the country. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the corona transmission rate has increased by 28.99 per cent this week, which is the highest in the last three weeks. The directorate has also identified the Delta variant as the possible reason behind this sudden spike in infections. Meanwhile, the Khulna Medical College Hospital had to stop admitting new patients, as it didn’t have enough capacity to tackle the huge number of corona patients. Almost the same condition is prevailing at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. As a result, patients are rushing for Covid-dedicated hospitals in Dhaka.
It has been observed that the Delta variant has already spread to other areas in the mainland, including Dhaka, though the Covid-dedicated hospitals in the capital, according to experts, are still not fully prepared face it. However, in Dhaka if a patient does not get admitted to one hospital, he can go to another. But this facility is absent for rural people as most district level hospitals and upazila health complexes are devoid of Covid treatment facilities.
As the number of deaths and new cases emanating from the pandemic are showing a dangerous upswing, we want the government to arrange for massive vaccination not in lakhs but in crores to curb the pandemic. Otherwise, the poor people and small businesses who are already in great trouble will be doomed. Impact of a longer economic slowdown on export as well as the economy as a whole will be catastrophic.
