There is an extreme lack of coordination in efforts to control the coronavirus infection in capital Dhaka.
A zone-wise lockdown has not taken effect even a month after expert advice. Such a move is also not yet clear to the people and even though the health department has identified the risk areas, the implementing agencies are delaying the move in the name of specificity.
In some places, there are allegations of harassment in the pretext of ‘lockdown.’
Many experts said they are skeptical about how much an area-based lockdown will work now that the 66-day general holiday target has failed.
According to them, the spread of infection cannot be stopped just by dividing a zone and blocking the road with bamboo. The affected people in the zone should be identified and treated. They have to find and check the people who come in contact with them and take action. Food for poor people must be ensured.
It took about a month to identify 45 red zones in Dhaka. No one can say how long it will take to do precise mapping within these zones. Suggestions have been made for city-based lockdowns, not neighborhood-based ones. But it is being emphasized for neighborhoods. Experts have expressed doubts about how much the infection can be controlled in this way.
On May 15, the Public Health Advisory Committee recommended a lockdown in the country’s major cities, including the capital, to prevent corona infection. About a month later, on June 11, a 13-member central technical committee was formed to work on the lockdown.
Professor Nazrul Islam, former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and a member of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, told Bangladesh Post the general public has no idea about the red, yellow and green zones.
Again, those who will implement it also lack the required knowledge. Some of them are saying that some areas should be locked down while others say the entire Dhaka city. This is creating confusion even among the common people.
Expressing doubts over implementation of the dividing into different zones, he said that earlier when the general holiday was declared across the country, the Prime Minister had said that it was not just a holiday. Ordinary people have to be safe, stay at home. She also gave various instructions to the health department. But these were not implemented.
“Law enforcers patrolled the main roads. But they did not enter other areas. Many poor people have not eaten. We could not feed them. If we had gone to war, we would not be here today. Now if there is a show of red zone, yellow zone, there will be no benefit. This will increase the crisis.
We have made many mistakes from the beginning. It was a big mistake to let people go home during the last Eid. The virus has spread across the country. But if we do the right work properly, there is still the opportunity to control the virus,” he said.
Nazrul Islam said, in this situation, there is no alternative to stalling the virus without lockdown. It should be implemented as soon as possible. In the lockdown area, everyone should be tested quickly and the identified patients should be isolated. They will be isolated in a center where they must be ensured medical facilities including doctors and nurses.
Those who are positive will be at the center. And those who are negative will stay at home. Then the area will be completely disease free.
According to the technical committee, if 60 out of every 100,000 people are infected in 14 days, the area has been red-listed as a red zone. With the advice and assistance of the DGHS, Dhaka North City Corporation has launched an experimental lockdown in the East Rajabazar area of the capital. But the number of patients identified there was much less than 60.
“We are now monitoring the lockdown in East Rajabazar. From there the next step will be taken with experience. The test started from June 10. So far at least 150 samples have been collected,” an official said.
Journalist Amin Al Rashid, a resident of Rajabazar, said that before the lockdown, there was no clear idea among the residents. In this way, many people, especially office-going people, suffered in the first days.
He said the number of infected was much higher than in its surrounding area. If this is the criteria for declaring a red zone and lockdown, then before Rajabazar, the surrounding areas should have been declared a red zone and locked down.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of infections in China, the country of first infection, began to decline within three months. Infection rates in South Korea also began to decline. But after three months, the infection in Bangladesh is on the rise.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that in order to control the infection, it is important to identify the person through testing, as well as to find other people who come in contact with the infected person, quarantine or monitor the suspects.
Experts say that contact tracing and quarantine did not work properly in Bangladesh, and is not happening yet. The contact tracing and quarantine system at Tolarbag in the capital or at Shibchar in Madaripur district was accurate and successful. We needed to learn from that successful example.
