40 frontline fighters contracting Covid-19 everyday
People who are fighting the Covid-19 on the frontline are getting infected at an alarming rate across the country
Medical personnel and law enforcers, the people leading the battle against Covid-19, are getting infected with Covid-19 at an alarming rate. Forty people have been getting infected every day on average since March 8.
Though the infection rate among frontline fighters was low in the earlier phase, it has revved up in the last 48 days.
Many fear that the surge in infections due to mismanagement may end up in the collapse of the healthcare system, and of law and order.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus case on March 8, and its first death from the virus nearly ten days after the first case was detected.
The country announced general holidays on March 26 in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
Data shows that the infection rate among frontline fighters was low till mid-April. Only 238 frontline personnel including doctors, police, RAB, nurses and medical technologists were infected till then.
Public health expert Dr Lelin Choudhury said that unfortunately, safety of frontline personnel did not get priority at the beginning.
"Therefore, the number of infection among front-line people soared," he claimed.
The public health expert believes that if the country fails to protect the fighters leading the battle, the virus will certainly defeat the entire population.
He, however, finds the later measures taken by the government for the safety of frontline fighters to be positive.
According to the Bangladesh Medical Association, the Bangladesh Doctors Foundation and the Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses Society, a total of 1,090 doctors, nurses and technicians have been infected as of Tuesday.
Among them, the tally of infected doctors tops 463 so far. In the meantime, 275 nurses and 352 medical technologists and staff have tested positive for Covid-19.
The government is going to appoint 2,000 more doctors and 5,054 nurses to tackle the pandemic, said Anwer Hossain Babu, general secretary of the Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses Society.
Meanwhile, data from the Police Headquarters shows that 1,153 police and 64 RAB personnel have been infected with the virus until Tuesday.
SM Ruhul Amin, additional inspector general of the police at the police headquarters, told The Business Standard that most police members live in crammed barracks, and the congested environment there might have fueled the infections.
Bangladesh confirmed 786 new cases of novel coronavirus infection on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 10,929 across the country. The death toll from the deadly virus has risen to 183 with the report of one more new death.
