Deployment of the military to assist Covid-19 fight

The government's decision to deploy the military to assist the civil administration in combatting the onslaught of the virus has come not a day too soon. The Army, Navy and Air Force have gone into operation from yesterday with manifold purposes. What the world is facing today is nothing short of a war that has pulverised the international system. And most countries, particularly the ones severely affected by it, have pressed the services and the resources of the military into the state's efforts to mitigate the effects of the disease.

The spread and the spike in incidences of the virus affected people has caught everyone off guard, overwhelming medical resources, and although Bangladesh has not been affected on the scale that some of the Asian and European countries have been, only a strict regimen in our lifestyle can prevent the spread of the virus in the country.

As we understand, the primary function of the military personnel is to remain in situ up to the district headquarters level to help the civil administrations to ensure social distancing and bolster the coronavirus preventive measures to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further. But apart from that, the armed forces will, in coordination with the district administration, evaluate treatment of infected patients and the quarantine system of suspected patients in every district and divisional town.

While the deployment of the military is very well and good, the efforts of the government will not succeed without the full cooperation of the people. As the medical experts have suggested, the immediate task in the anti Covid-19 strategy is to prevent the spread of the virus, and people, being the principle vectors, should play the leading part in this regard. The ten-day holiday will help in mitigating the effect only if people, of their own volition, refrain from socialising and gathering and follow government instructions religiously. Only then can we hope to be spared the wrath of Covid-19.