Act before it’s too late
As Covid-19 transmission escalates, healthcare experts urged the government to take stringent measures immediately to rein in the surge before it goes out of control.
The country witnessed at least 2,187 new cases yesterday -- the highest for a single day in the last 100 days.
The country witnessed 2,202 cases on December 8 last year, according to the data from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
"We are frightened and frustrated seeing the people's reckless behaviour. I think it is high time to send a strict message to the people that the situation is grave. If needed, the government should go for lockdown and cancel all public examinations," Prof Md Sayedur Rahman, chairman of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University's (BSMMU's) pharmacology department, told The Daily Star yesterday.
He also warned that if the transmission was not contained right now, it would go beyond control.
There has been a sharp rise of new Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the second week of March, with healthcare officials and experts blaming it on people's reluctance to follow health safety guidelines.
The new cases recorded yesterday were against 21,212 tests, which meant that the positivity rate was 10.45 percent -- almost 3 points up from the previous day's 7.68 percent.
The last time the country recorded a higher positivity rate was on December 13, 2020, 10.63 percent of samples tested positive for coronavirus.
Prof Rahman stressed on increasing the daily testing capacity.
"Unless we increase the number of tests to one or two lakh, we will never know the level of transmission. With inadequate tests, a lockdown or any other measures will hardly work," said Rahman, adding that testing helps mitigation efforts as it equips investigators with the requisite knowledge to examine the characteristics, prevalence and spread of any disease.
According to the DGHS, RT-PCR labs across the country have the capacity to test around 50,000 samples every day.
The rise of infections has also coincided in a decline in numbers of people getting vaccinated. A total of 1,07,433 people were vaccinated yesterday, raising the total number of people vaccinated to 46,87,824.
During the first and second weeks of the countrywide vaccination campaign that started on February 7, an average of 1.5 lakh people took the vaccines daily.
Amid the growing alarm, Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday urged people to maintain health safety guidelines.
Fearing the fresh surge of transmission, likely linked to the two highly transmissible strains of the virus originating in the UK and South Africa, the DGHS has recently gave a 12-point suggestion to the government, including a complete lockdown.
The health minister, however, said all the government agencies will take collaboratively decide on the lockdown.
"While we want [that] the economy of the country remains stable, we also want [that] the transmission does not rise… But we [health ministry] cannot decide on lockdown. All the government agencies will decide collaboratively on it," said Zahid Maleque.
He said lockdown would be the last resort for the government if people continue to defy health guidelines.
"In the beginning, we knew nothing about coronavirus. Now we know how to fight it, but we are not maintaining the health safety guidelines… If health safety guidelines are maintained, there will be no need of lockdown. We have suggested, now the government [high-ups] will decide," the minister said.
About mass gatherings in social events, the minister said, "At least 20 lakh people visited Cox's Bazar, Bandarban and Rangamati in the last 15 days. Nobody wore masks. [People] are participating in marriage ceremony without wearing masks."
He also urged people to be patient.
"It is not the right time for going on tours. Be patient [for] a bit more. If [you] stay alive, [you] will be able to go on tours."
IGP FOR STRICTER ENFORCEMENT
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Police yesterday said they will intensify efforts to ensure people are maintaining health guidelines.
"We are witnessing a sudden rise of coronavirus infections in the month of March again. Already around 16,000 people got infected in the month at an average of 1,000 daily, whereas the figure was only 11,061 in February," said Benazir Ahmed, Inspector General of Police (IGP), yesterday.
Due to the sudden rise of Covid-19, police will undertake a nationwide special awareness programme from March 21 so that every people of the country take preventive steps, said the police chief.
Police will continue the awareness with the slogan "habit of wearing mask, Covid-free Bangladesh".
The IGP disclosed the steps taken by police to prevent the ongoing surgeof coronavirus while addressing reporters at Bangladesh Police Auditorium in Rajarbagh.
He said "everyone has to follow strict hygiene rules. Masks should be worn, hands should be washed repeatedly with soap. Hand sanitisers should be kept if necessary."
Replying to a query about forcing people to wear masks, the police chief said, "We do not want to say that right now. We want to inspire people to wear masks with motivation and awareness.
"Moreover, why should we need to be encouraged to wear a mask? I hope people will wear masks for themselves and their families out of a sense of responsibility," he said.
Community police and beat police will work to create awareness and free masks will be provided if needed, said the IGP.
Asked about police allowing big political events and gatherings, the IGP said the issue of permission depends on the situation. "We have to strictly follow hygiene rules at every event even if given permission," he said.
Regarding the restrictions in kitchen markets, the police chief said it will depend on the situation and everything will be implemented in phases as required by circumstances.
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