The city’s greater Pallabi region and many areas in old Dhaka have been identified as risky zones for covid-19 infections, according to the latest data released from the IEDCR.
The government disease scrutinizing agency Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) statistics showed that the 168 people who died of coronavirus across the country, 88 were in the capital alone.
According to them, 15 people who died were from greater Pallabi areas which is also known as having concentrations of garment factories.
On the other hand, since the onset of the corona attack, 40 more people have died in Lalbagh, Chawkbazar, Kotwali, Bangshal, Sutrapur, Gendaria and Wari – all located in old Dhaka. The rest of the people who also died from coronavirus were from different areas of other parts of the city.
In such a situation, the public health experts and police officers are keeping a close watch on Pallabi and Old Dhaka areas assuming those areas as highly risky for corona infection.
When asked, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Krishnapad Roy said, “Out of 50 police station areas in the capital 15 people have died who comes from Pallabi area.
Emphasizing on public awareness, he said that the movement of people in the area has been tightened. The police are more worried especially because it is a garment factory zone where thousands of factory workers are concentrated.
He further said, Old Dhaka is not lagging behind in terms of death. Due to the dense population in these areas, the police have been conducting awareness campaigns from the very beginning.
He also mentioned that even then people are coming out of their houses unnecessarily. “This may be the reason why it is not possible to prevent the infection,” he added.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Pallabi Police Station, Nazrul Islam said, “We have repeatedly asked residents in the areas not to come out of their houses unless it is emergency. After We noticed that many people are disobeying or requests and care least about the dangers of corona infection.”
Besides, there are nearly 60 to 70 garments factories in this area. Thousands of workers are working there. The police are doing their duty keeping in mind that they can come out if things are relaxed a bit.
There are several Bihari camps in this police station area. Most of them also do not follow rules on personal hygiene.
Public health experts earlier said that the capital city Dhaka has become worse in relation to the spread of novel coronavirus. The rate of infection and death toll is increasing day by day in both densely and sparsely populated areas.
Zahidur Rahman, an Assistant Professor of Virology at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital (SSMCH), said, “The rate of infection is high in the capital due to several reasons. One of the main reasons is high population density in Dhaka. As a result, ‘social distance’ in most cases is not being maintained or in other words, is actually difficult to implement.”
He said that this is evident especially in the city’s kitchen markets- people are not obeying rules at all.
“People living in up-town areas are seemingly more aware about the risks of Covid-19 infection,” said ASM Alamgir, chief scientific officer IEDCR.
“One of the reasons for more cases being reported from these areas is that people attended gatherings, moved to different places. On the contrary, people in densely populated areas often live in crowded cheap housing,” he also said.