The new variants of coronavirus with high infection risk have been found in Bangladesh. In such a situation, people are going home in different areas of the country to celebrate Eid, ignoring the hygiene rules.
Experts say that the coronavirus could spread across the country as the movement of people has been increasing by ignoring the health rules without properly following the government's instruction. The government needs to be rigid to keep the situation under control. Besides, people also need to be more careful. They must wear masks, maintain physical distance as well as follow all types of hygiene rules.
The government has taken steps to prevent the transmission of coronavirus during the Eid journey. Public transport from one district to another has been stopped. Moreover, the government has instructed the officials and employees of government and private organisations to stay at their workplaces.
The holiday of Eid is not being increased. As a result, many city dwellers have planned not to leave Dhaka. However, some people have planned to travel by private cars during Eid to avoid public gatherings.
Besides, due to the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a large number of people have already left Dhaka and started living in their ancestral villages.
Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the health services division, warned that the transmission potential of this variant of coronavirus is very high, so everyone should be very careful.
Member of the National Technical Advisory Committee and former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Virologist Prof. Dr. Nazrul Islam told Bangladesh Post, “There is no alternative to strict hygiene. The ongoing lockdown needs to be stricter. BGB can be deployed in hat-bazaars and shopping centers if required. At the same time the number of testing should be further increased. It is needed to ensure testing facility at ward level. If someone is infected, every one of the family should be kept in isolation. They need to be provided with food and other necessities until they recover. Besides, quarantine policy must be followed.”
"This month is very crucial. At this time, if people follow social distancing and hygiene rules, the situation is likely to improve further. Otherwise, infections may rise in a large number. If these steps are not implemented in advance, we could be in a big crisis like India. Then the situation will be difficult to handle,” he said.
Public health expert Dr. Benazir Ahmed said the decision to run public transport before Eid was wrong. If the government wanted, it could have taken a decision after Eid considering the situation. Then this risk could have been avoided during Eid.
He said the government has taken several initiatives to control corona infections. So, the corona infection situation has been improved. However, sometimes the situation has deteriorated due to non-implementation of some decisions.
However, earlier, a team of analysts evaluating Bangladesh and global data said that if the Indian variant of coronavirus enters Bangladesh, the situation may get worsened.
The analysts’ team is working as part of a consortium at Oxford University and every two weeks they have to analyse the coronavirus situation in Bangladesh and submit a concept paper.
A concept paper of coronavirus situation in Bangladesh was submitted to the government on March 30.
Dr Shafiun Nahin Shimul, a teacher at the Institute of Health Economics at Dhaka University, who led the analyst team, said, “Our model says if we can make sure wearing masks, it would not be a big problem and the government can open educational institutions.”
Dr. Abu Jamil Faisal, another member of the analyst team, said that they found that there is a great lack of coordination in government work to control the coronavirus situation, on the other hand, the public representatives are not playing any role.
In addition, the Indian variant of corona is known as 'B.1.167' which has come out in various studies as highly infective. It was first identified in India in October. Every day in India, new records are being set for coronavirus infections and deaths.
The first UK variant was identified on January 6 in Bangladesh, and this variant grows in Bangladesh till the second week of March.
But in the third week of March, the South African variant became the strongest of all the other variants found in Bangladesh.
To address the situation after the start of the second wave of the infection, the government has imposed step-by-step restrictions or lockdowns of various levels from April 5, which will remain till May 16.
