With limited access to the healthcare system and financial imbroglios, the rural people are now at the risk of bearing the brunt of coronavirus pandemic as the Covid-19 transmission cases are currently higher in villages than cities.
The country has now been in different state of coronavirus outbreak, indicating a change in the status of the corona situation.
Analysis of the last one week’s statistics of the Department of Health has indicated this grim scenario of Covid-19.
It shows that on an average the detection rate is 22-25 percent, and at the same time does not indicate downtrend in the rate of detection.
Talking to The Bangladesh Post several public health experts viewed that, currently coronavirus infection is more prevalent in rural areas than in cities.
The deadly virus is spreading silently in remote village areas and reluctance to adhering to health guidelines and hygiene rules is responsible for the spike of coronavirus infections.
In this context, the former Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Mushtaq Hossain said that although the situation in the country seems to be stable, the infection is gradually increasing in all areas, especially in outside Dhaka.
He said, “In America it was like a tsunami, the pace of growth in our country is slower than the USA. Covid's curve is on the rise, though not yet sharp.”
Hossain said, the detection rate averaged 22-25 percent and this means that one out of every four people, who are being tested, is getting infected.
The public health expert urged all to stick to the advice of avoiding public gatherings, a must follow health rule that is also being flouted in many rural and urban cattle markets across the country. As a result, the rate of infection is increasing in the villages and remote areas, he added.
“Rural people are less educated and have limited access to healthcare system. In my point of view rural communities have failed to decipher gravity of the contagion,” he said.
The expert said, granting the lower number of tests than before actually leads to rise in number of new cases of coronavirus. The number of new active cases has been on the rise in the last few days as sample testing continues to grow.
National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Center (NILMRC), Professor Dr. Abul Khair said that the rate of corona transmission is increasing in villages silently.
In this situation, if people leave Dhaka in groups for villages on the occasion of the holy Eid-ul-Adha as before, and if they go to the markets to buy sacrificial animals ignoring the health rules, the infections will increase, the public health expert opined.
He advised everyone to adhere to the hygiene rules to keep the corona situation under control.
The expert urged the government to identify patients as well as examine and isolate them by contact tracing.
On Friday, Bangladesh witnessed fifty-one deaths from coronavirus infections, Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said during a briefing.
The death toll now stands at 2,547 and the death rate at 1.28 percent. Three thousand and thirty-four people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.