Don’t miss the second window of opportunity
As the coronavirus pandemic rages across the globe with increasing ferocity, it has become evident that many countries missed the first window of opportunity to contain the spread of the virus by taking timely measures. As of March 27, there are well over 24,000 deaths and 536,454 cases worldwide. The WHO, while criticising countries who wasted time in getting together resources to combat the pandemic, has urged that the second window of opportunity which is narrowing fast, should not be squandered. For Bangladesh, this should be a wakeup call to act fast and take all the steps needed to control the spread. So far, we have been slow to react, with many gaps in our contingency plans.
The government is trying to impose self-isolation and social distancing of people and regarding this, they have been only partially successful. There are still many areas where there are vulnerable people who need to be given special attention. Slum dwellers in particular, who live in small, congested areas, are at great risk. They must be given running water, soap and masks in order to protect themselves and others. Many people from Dhaka have gone to the villages in droves, as we have seen in pictures and videos. It is important to increase surveillance of these people and those they have contact with. Resources have to be mobilised to reach not only hospitals in Dhaka, but in other districts where we are getting reports of more and more cases. This includes PPEs, masks and surgical gloves for all health professionals who are at greatest risk when treating patients. Ventilators and ICU facilities need to be increased, which is the biggest challenge given how limited our resources are. According to a report in this paper, government hospitals have 508 ICU beds and private ones have 737, but only 10 are available for coronavirus patients in the capital. From what we have learnt through international media, a country like the US, which has some of the best hospitals in the world and despite being one of the richest nations, is struggling desperately to get more ventilators, PPE, masks and testing kits. We have not been hit as hard as countries in Europe but we must prepare for the worst and get more and more people tested. The numbers given by the IEDCR of 48 confirmed cases and 5 deaths do not give the real picture of the extent of the pandemic here because of the small number of people being tested. Although the government is trying to expand testing kits available to hospitals, we cannot emphasise enough that this has to be accelerated along with health facilities, before we lose the second window of opportunity as warned by WHO.
The government, moreover, must go all out in communicating with the public by giving the actual scenario of the pandemic. While self-isolation and social distancing are being imposed, most people are not aware of why this is so important, which results in violations of such measures. The gap in information must be removed so that people voluntarily cooperate with the directives. As a nation, we must all work together, each in our own capacity, to fight this virus.
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