Make coronavirus testing a high priority

In a manner befitting the urgency of the situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) director has urged all countries to ramp up their testing programmes as the best way to arrest the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. "We have a simple message to all countries: test, test, test," he said. We cannot agree more. The director's message comes at a time when the global coronavirus situation is rapidly deteriorating, with at least 7,175 deaths from over 183,000 confirmed cases so far. It's also particularly relevant for Bangladesh, which is at high risk of infection because of its population density, poor healthcare system, generally poor hygiene practices among the people and the continued arrival of people from countries with high coronavirus incidences, despite a travel ban. Since there is no cure for the disease, testing can be the difference between life and death.

Unfortunately, Bangladesh's response has not been consistent with the enormity of the danger, leaving much to be desired. According to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), 10 persons have been infected in the country so far, although experts say the actual number could be much higher. IEDCR, the only institution to have the testing authority, has so far tested about 268 people. It says it has 1,732 more test kits left to identify people with infections. Both the number of people tested and the number of test kits left are appalling, not to mention, extremely dangerous from a public healthcare perspective. While the WHO is expected to supply more test kits and personal protective equipment (PPE) soon, supply shortages are only part of the problem. From the very beginning, the government appeared to be ill-prepared to contain a threat of this magnitude. There are reports of disruption and mismanagement in the procedures involving the testing of suspected cases, institutional quarantine and self-isolation. The urgency of testing potential virus carriers from abroad hasn't been met with proper action.  

We think the government should take more drastic measures in the coming days. We need strict monitoring to ensure proper quarantine. There should also be arrangements to test and treat people at different health facilities. We should even be prepared to consider a countrywide lockdown should the need arise. More importantly for now, we should ramp up our testing initiatives, which also means investigating the suspected rise in recent weeks in pneumonia, one of the most common symptoms of Covid-19.