News Analysis: Why so hush-hush?

World leaders have frequently used the word "war" to describe the fight against the coronavirus primarily to emphasise how precious every second, every minute or every strategic decision is in combating the invisible killer.

Even slight delays in making and implementing decisions can jeopardise the whole effort, as has been seen in the case of numerous countries around the world in the last 15 months since Covid-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

Bangladesh is no exception.

The country's health officials identified a few cases of the UK variant of Covid-19 back in January, but this information was published only on March 10. The government also acknowledged the presence of the variant but has not explained the delay in sharing the information.

It was also the case with the South African variant, found in the country in February. But the government is yet to acknowledge it officially.

The government's approach in this case does not seem to emphasise the free flow of information or getting the right information through to the people at the right time, which is crucial in tackling such a pandemic.

Because when the truth is concealed, rumours spread.

Sensing the importance of accurate information during the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already warned of misinformation as an "infodemic".

But from the way health officials have handled the two variants, it appears that the knowledge was for their own consumption.

The outcome is damaging to say the least.

With things developing rapidly over the last two weeks, fear has replaced the feel-good atmosphere. The daily number of infections has risen sharply, and the positivity rate has already crossed 10 percent. The number of deaths has also been rising, as have hospital admissions and ICU occupancy.

Experts have said if health officials disclosed the presence of the two contagious variants immediately after detection and made people aware of their damaging impacts, the situation could have been different.

Both the UK and South African variants spread faster than the other strains, and are reported to be responsible for the fresh wave of infections and deaths across the world.

When the UK variant was causing a surge in infections and fatalities in the United Kingdom, 40 countries including India, imposed temporary bans on UK arrivals in their respective countries in late December last year. Europe also temporarily closed its borders with the UK at that time.

But Bangladesh kept its airports open for people flying in from the UK, despite concern from experts. They said the country would commit the same mistake it did by allowing Bangladeshi expats from Europe to return home during the initial days of the pandemic last year.

When the UK variant was found in the country in January, the daily positivity rate was falling. According to government data, the variants were found in samples taken from some UK returnees.

The picture was looking even brighter when the country began the mass rollout of Covid-19 vaccine on February 7, as the infection rate had already been hovering between 2.3 and 3.3 percent.

The vaccination programme was the result of a successful government diplomacy in vaccine procurement. With positivity rates and deaths going in the right direction and large numbers being vaccinated people began to move more freely, oblivious to the looming threat.

In February there was a three-day weekend and a huge number of tourists went to Cox's Bazar. There were reports that many tourists stayed at the beach and in buses as they did not find any vacant hotel rooms.

Health officials have said that infection rates have been on the rise since. They said they have been ringing the alarm bells, warning that the situation might go out of control if people do not follow the health guidelines.

With Covid-19 spiking once more in the country, health officials squarely blamed people for not being serious about following the health guidelines.

But how can the government evade the responsibility of not disclosing vital information?

Is it not the responsibility of the government to update people about the current state of the pandemic when it is changing every day, and the strategy too?

The government had done well in containing the virus, although the ferocity of the pandemic in terms of infections and deaths was less in Bangladesh compared to other countries in the world, including the United States and other European countries.

The inoculation campaign has been a major success with over 4.8 million people so far receiving their first jabs. Building on the successful vaccination campaign, economic activities started returning to normal and the government had decided to open educational institutions by the end of this month.

But the recent spike has upset the all the good work. People are now bracing for another dark phase when the light at the end of the tunnel was just beginning to get brighter.

The government can blame it on the people's non-compliance to health guidelines.

But the people could well argue that if they had been made aware of the new variants in time and had the government taken the right decisions, the disaster might have been averted.