Early easing of lockdown will be risky
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
January 27, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
Early easing of lockdown will be risky

Covid-19 in Bangladesh

Be-Nazir Ahmed, Ridwanur Rahman & Nazrul Islam
30 April, 2020, 10:35 pm
Last modified: 30 April, 2020, 11:39 pm

Related News

  • US CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent Covid shot
  • China says Covid deaths down by nearly 80 percent
  • Updated Covid vaccines prevented illness from latest variants -CDC
  • US proposes once-a-year Covid shots for most Americans
  • Covid-19 cut known human trafficking, but Ukraine war a risk: UN

Early easing of lockdown will be risky

Lockdown is not everything. It is a policing system. It is necessary to analyse who are the people with whom the patient has come into contact with

Be-Nazir Ahmed, Ridwanur Rahman & Nazrul Islam
30 April, 2020, 10:35 pm
Last modified: 30 April, 2020, 11:39 pm
Early easing of lockdown will be risky

.

The main purpose of the lockdown is to prevent the disease from spreading from one place to another. Lockdown is not everything – it is only a part. It is a step to curb the transmission of the disease.

If there had been no lockdown in the country, the many patients found in Dhaka these days would have spread all over the country because hundreds of thousands of people go to all over the country from Dhaka every day. Also, many healthy people from outside Dhaka would carry the disease from here. Lockdown has prevented these cases.

But lockdown is not everything. It is a policing system. It is necessary to analyse who are the people with whom the patient has come into contact with. It is necessary to know the places where the patient has visited and by which transport. Lockdown is an administrative matter, but the rest is the task of the public health department.

Contact tracing is not done properly. We need a team for each of the 5,000-6,000 patients that we have. Each team needs 10 to 12 members. Teams of public health experts, medical officers, volunteers, police, and local elected representatives should be there.

Contact tracing, quarantine and laboratory tests must be facilitated along with lockdown. Forget about 6,000, if we could form 1,000 or 500 teams, it would be enough for the moment. There are several teams. But they are not teams of experts. It is hard for a medical officer who has no degree in public health.

As a result, many people are being infected with the disease from one patient. The number of patients is not increasing because we cannot trace all the patients. The number of patients is supposed to increase by a hundred to 200 to 400 to 800 every next day.

All the countries are experiencing this. But here, the number was stuck between 300 and 400 in the last few days.

The reason is we have missed many patients, in many cases we were late to trace patients. The samples are not being collected properly. The people who are collecting samples are not skilled.

On the one hand, we cannot trace patients and we cannot stop the spread of infection from those who are being identified. The curve that we are seeing is not the true picture. It is recorded data. There are patients outside this. The garment factories are open. Now the number of patients will increase.

Once, the position of Bangladesh was at 112 in the world. Now it is 47. Probably the position will come down to below 40 in the next few days. Because other countries are not having new infections. If we fail to take the right actions, the peak of our situation will come out.

Garment factories and restaurants are being opened without any discussion with the health department. The risk will increase in the coming days because of these uncoordinated decisions. 

We have been emphasising proper tracing of the patients from the beginning. But the tracing of infected patients is not being done, many patients are hiding themselves in fear and others are being infected from them.

We are being trapped in a vicious cycle. We have to pay the price. Because of the way the number of patients is increasing, we do not have enough space in our hospitals to keep so many patients.

Professor Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director, Communicable Disease Control, DGHS

Curve of rising patient numbers not real one

The curve of the number of rising patients that we are observing is not the real curve. This curve consists of only the patients who are being tested. People from all over the country are not being tested. Most of the patients are from Dhaka division.

The number of patients is higher where more tests are being done. The curve is rising in Dhaka as the number of tests is increasing here. The curve will rise more if more tests are done. If the number of tests does not increase, the curve will remain the same.

To make the curve rise and then come down, we need to test the people all over the country who have the symptoms of coronavirus and isolate them. If isolation can be done all over the country, the transmission of the virus will stop and the curve will also fall.

We need to do three things – lockdown, test and trace.

After detecting a patient, all the people who had come in contact with him or her in the previous three days must be kept in quarantine because they could also be infected. Those who will show symptoms after being placed in quarantine must be isolated. 

After two weeks, those who will show symptoms should be tested and the others will be set free. If we can follow this procedure, the situation will improve.

The decision of opening the garments factories and markets is unscientific. It will lead to a dangerous situation in Dhaka city. The scientific decision is even the mosques should not be allowed gathering of more than 10 people.

The garment factories that have been opened will not be so for many days. They should be placed under lockdown within a few days. In every country, there is a task force who decide what to do. But we do not have any task force. Nobody knows who is making decisions for us.

Professor Ridwanur Rahman, head of Research Centre, Universal Medical College

Cannot control situation in Dhaka because lockdown is not maintained properly

Most of our patients are in Dhaka city. The number of patients is not increasing in other divisions apart from Dhaka. We cannot control the situation of Dhaka division because the lockdown is not maintained properly. It is only an official lockdown. As a result, the number of patients is not decreasing.

The number of patients has increased along with the number of tests. All the works are being done over the phone but nothing is being done properly.

The health department says they are not getting information about the patients when they call them. The patients are giving them the wrong numbers. But this is not any solution. The problem must be solved by involving the local administration.

Contact tracing is not being done properly. The infection is spreading by infected patients.

The garment factories have been opened again, which will increase the number of patients in Dhaka division. We will get the result in the next seven or eight days. The real picture will appear then. 

Currently, the information we are getting will not include the information from the RMG factories. The current information is based on the patients who were infected earlier. The curve of infections after April 20 shows that the number is fluctuating. But there is a big jump in the curve after April 28.

The number of patients increased more on April 29 which suggests that the curve is rising high. This pattern of increasing patients is alarming. The curve will be clear after observing the number of infected patients of the next two to three days.

Professor Nazrul Islam, noted virologist and former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital

Top News

COVID-19 / lockdown

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
    Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
  • Sugar turning bitter!
    Sugar turning bitter!
  • Island hopping in Bangladesh?
    Island hopping in Bangladesh?

MOST VIEWED

  • Incepta Pharma abandons Covid vaccine plan
    Incepta Pharma abandons Covid vaccine plan
  • Test tube labelled "Covid-19 Omicron variant test positive" is seen in this illustration picture taken 15 January, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Tighter screening at ports urged as new Covid sub-variant BF.7 detected
  • Test tube labelled "Covid-19 Omicron variant test positive" is seen in this illustration picture taken 15 January, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    First case of new Covid sub-variant Omicron BF.7 detected in Bangladesh: IEDCR
  • Illustration: Collected
    Genome sequencing reports of Chinese nationals infected with Covid by Sunday: IEDCR
  • Computer image of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to Covid-19
    4 Chinese nationals detected with Covid at Dhaka airport
  • Omicron BF7: Land ports still left unguarded
    Omicron BF7: Land ports still left unguarded

Related News

  • US CDC still looking at potential stroke risk from Pfizer bivalent Covid shot
  • China says Covid deaths down by nearly 80 percent
  • Updated Covid vaccines prevented illness from latest variants -CDC
  • US proposes once-a-year Covid shots for most Americans
  • Covid-19 cut known human trafficking, but Ukraine war a risk: UN

Features

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

55m | Panorama
According to the CAB president Ghulam Rahman, one of the most common complaints of consumers is being deceived by sellers when it comes to the weight of goods. Photo: TBS

Has the Directorate improved consumer rights in Bangladesh?

2d | Panorama
A 2022 survey of 1,000 companies by professional services consultancy PwC found that between a sixth and a quarter had used AI in recruitment or employee retention in the past 12 months. Illustration: Bloomberg

AI is coming to your workplace. Is the world ready?

2d | Panorama
Edison Desdemona, the newly launched stellar project of Edison Real Estate, located at Bashundhara Residential Area. Photo: Courtesy

EDISON DESDEMONA: A creation like no other

2d | Habitat

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

13h | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

14h | TBS Stories
PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

16h | TBS SPORTS
Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

15h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]