The government has taken strict measures along with vaccination to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh on Thursday imposed a 16-day ban on entry of passengers from all European nations except the UK and 12 other countries - Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Peru, Qatar, South Africa, Turkey and Uruguay - from April 3 to check the new spike of Covid-19 cases.
The Election Commission also postponed all the elections until further notice. The Prime Minister’s Office earlier issued 18 directives including restricting all social gatherings and limiting office presence.
All those measures were taken as the number of infections continued to rise. On Thursday, the government reported 6,469 new cases, the highest number in a single day, and 59 deaths, the highest number in over nine months.
However, the vaccination programme is going on, with over 5.4 million people receiving the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine since the beginning of the inoculation on January 27.
Dr. A.S.M Alamgir, Principal Scientific Officer of the government’s disease monitoring agency, IEDCR, told Bangladesh Post that the national technical committee hailed the 18 directives issued by the Prime Minister’s Office and advised all to avoid crowds strictly and wear mask whenever they go out.
The World Health Organisation also suggested precautions, such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, keeping rooms well ventilated, avoiding crowds, cleaning hands, and coughing into a bent elbow or tissue to prevent the spread of the virus.
“The number of cases is increasing rapidly. We are trying to add 3,500 more beds at the Covid units of government and private hospitals. But all seats will be occupied within one week if 500-1,000 patients need to be admitted daily,” Health Minister Zahid Maleque said while inaugurating 10 new ICU beds at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) virtually.
He asked all to wear masks, maintain social distancing and all other hygiene measures to prevent the virus. “We will not be able to control the situation if we cannot prevent it,” he said, adding that: “We should be alert and stop moving carelessly. Otherwise, it may turn catastrophic.”
The new 18 instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office include restricting all kinds of public gatherings (social, political, religious and others), ensuring proper hygiene rules in all places of worship, including mosques, limiting public gatherings at tourist hubs, cinemas and theaters, public transports to carry passengers keeping half of the seats empty for ensuring social distancing, 14-day institutional quarantine for the inbound international passengers, keeping all educational institutions and coaching centres will remain closed, and all offices to run by 50 percent manpower a day with wearing masks and maintaining hygiene rules.
Meanwhile, the technical committee in its latest meeting on Thursday suggested the health ministry to increase the number of beds in hospitals along with ICU facilities.
They also suggested expanding the facilities outside the capital city of Dhaka so that people can take treatment from the locality.
They also advised to stop all the social events and recreation centers such as book fair. The Islamic foundation has been advised to give directives related to religious gatherings.
The government has also taken measures for post vaccination surveillance.
China was the world’s first country which on January 11, 2020 reported the first death from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan.
Bangladesh first reported the cases on March 8 and first death on March 18. The WHIO declared the virus pandemic on March 11. So far, Bangladesh officially recorded 617,764 cases and 9,105 deaths.
The government has introduced telemedicine services comprising 100 physicians for round the clock so that people can have easy access to health services.
So far, 2,68,98,977 people received services from hotline numbers - 16263; 333; 10655 and 01944333222.
