Proportion of young people infected with coronavirus rising globally

With over 22 million people affected across the world, the global death toll nearing 800,000 and a surge in new cases in different countries leading to the re-imposition of lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, it is safe to assume that we still have a long way to go in seeing the end of this pandemic. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed its concern that the novel coronavirus spread was being driven by people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, many of whom were unaware they were infected, and warned that they could be putting vulnerable groups at greater risk of infection.

This warning should be taken extremely seriously in Bangladesh. According to IEDCR statistics, more than 50 percent of coronavirus patients in Bangladesh are aged between 21 and 40 years, although over 65 percent of deaths have occurred in the age group of 50 years and above (despite only 17 percent of infected people belonging to this age group). While rates of testing have dropped since the introduction of fees for coronavirus tests—around 18,000 tests were being conducted per day at the end of June, which has now dropped to around 10,000 to 12,000 tests a day—the positivity rate in Bangladesh has stayed constant at 22 to 23 percent over the last 30 days. A flat high positivity rate and low rates of testing should definitely cause us some concern, especially since the WHO criteria suggest that the positivity rate should be below five percent to indicate that the epidemic is under control in a country.

There are enough warning signs in Bangladesh for us to say with certainty that there is no space for complacency and response fatigue at this point in our battle against coronavirus. While we urge the government to expand testing, identify hotspots and properly implement zonal lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, we also ask our younger citizens to take all precautions in their daily lives. While this demographic group may be at greater risk of exposure because they are responsible for earning livelihoods and supporting their families, they must also diligently wear masks, follow social distancing measures and remember their responsibility towards the more vulnerable groups, especially the elderly and sick people in densely populated areas with weak health services.