Covid situation alarming in Bangladesh, expert body for shutdown

The daily number of Covid cases continued to soar on Thursday while the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended at least a 14-day countrywide ‘complete shutdown as the virus outbreak went out of control’.

State minister for public administration Farhad Hossain told reporters on Thursday night that the recommendation of the advisory committee for a complete shutdown was rational.

The government is considering the situation and it is prepared to enforce a complete shutdown anytime, he added.

With the outbreak situation becoming ‘alarming’ the government is not on the right track to prevent the situation, public health experts observed.

The daily number of Covid cases hit a 72-day high — 6,058 — in the past 24-hour period till 8:00am Thursday with 81 more people dying of the viral disease during the period.

With the latest figures, the death toll from Covid has hit 13,868 and the number of infections have reached 8,72,935, said the daily Covid update from the Directorate General of Health Services.

Local hospitals saw a continued arrival of large numbers of Covid patients during the 24-hour reporting period amid widespread violation of health guidelines and a lacklustre implementation of the movement curbs.

The technical advisory committee on Covid-19 on Wednesday at 9:30pm held its 38th meeting where it said that in the country, especially in more than 50 districts, high Covid infection rates were seen while the separate measures to prevent the outbreak had faced questions, said a press release issued by the committee.

The committee unanimously advised at least a 14-day complete ‘shutdown’ in the country to contain the outbreak by closing all offices except emergency services, otherwise the health system would fail to cope with the situation despite all preparations.

The committee also recommended that the government should vaccinate more than 80 per cent of the population to get rid of the disease.

Rashid-e-Mahbub, former president of Bangladesh Medical Association, told New Age that the situation was alarming.

He said that vaccine was the first weapon to prevent the disease at this moment, adding, ‘Other steps like shutdown can yield benefit just for the time being.’

Epidemiologist and former director for disease control at the Directorate General of Health Services Be-Nazir Ahmed told New Age that the current Covid infection situation had turned grim.

‘If the preventive initiatives — which were taken earlier but failed to give any positive result — are taken again then the situation would become worse,’ he said, adding that the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha is a big concern.

‘If cow selling at cattle markets continues this year as usual this may result in a situation which India saw as the Kumbh Mela was underway and from where the delta variant has spread,’ he said, adding that elections were also held in that country.

He said that if the government imposed a complete shutdown then the situation would improve.

Among the total deceased in the 24 hours till Thursday morning, the highest 23 were reported from Khulna division, followed by 20 from Rajshahi, 13 from Dhaka, seven each from Chattogram and Rangpur, five from Sylhet and three each from Barishal and Mymensnigh divisions.

In the period, Khulna division also saw the highest positivity rate of 38.11 per cent, followed by 37.85 per cent in Rangpur, 31.52 per cent in Barishal, 21.04 per cent in Sylhet, 19.02 per cent in Chattogram, 17.35 per cent in Rajshahi, 16.87 per cent in Mymensingh and the lowest 15.33 per cent in Dhaka division.

A total of 33 patients died in the Covid units of hospitals in Khulna, Rajshshi and Satkhira districts in the 24 hours till Thursday morning.

Of them, six died at three hospitals in Khulna, 18 at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and nine at two hospitals in Satkhira, the New Age correspondents in the districts, quoting government officials, reported.

Of the 33 deceased, 14 were Covid positive patients and 19 died with symptoms of Covid.

The New Age Rajshahi University correspondent reported that a total of 18 more patients died in the Covid unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in the 24 hours.

This is the highest number of deaths in a single day at the RMCH after Covid broke out in 2020.

RMCH director Brigadier Shameem Yazdany told New Age that eight patients, out of the 18, were positive for Covid-19 while the rest died with Covid symptoms.

He said that 13 of the dead were from Rajshahi district while four were from Naogaon and the rest one from Chapainawabganj.

According to RMCH officials, a total of 260 patients died at the Covid unit of the hospital in the ongoing month.

According to the Rajshahi health directorate office, 1,018 new Covid cases were confirmed in the division in the past 24 hours.

This was the highest number of new cases recorded in a day since after the outbreak.

In Khulna, one Covid positive patient died at the Covid facility operated by Khulna Medical College Hospital, the New Age correspondent in Khulna reported quoting the hospital’s resident medical officer Suhas Chandra Halder.

Three other Covid positive patients died at Gazi Medical College Hospital, said the hospital’s chairman Gazi Mizanur Rahman.

The statistics department of the Khulna civil surgeon’s office said that two patients died at the Covid unit of Khulna General Hospital in the past 24 hours.

The New Age Islamic University correspondent reported that Chuadanga district logged 45.46 per cent positivity rate in the past 24 hours breaking all the previous records, said Chuadanga district Covid sub-committee member Aliur Rahman.

Two people died of Covid-19 and four people died with symptoms in the district, he said.

In the past 24 hours, six people died at the Covid unit of Kushtia General Hospital and in Jhenaidah 63 people were found infected with the novel coronavirus while three people died from the virus.

The New Age correspondent in Satkhira, quoting Satkhira Medical College Hospital superintendent Kudrat-e-Khuda, reported that eight patients, all having symptoms of Covid, died at the Covid unit of the hospital.

Satkhira Sadar Hospital’s medical officer Jayanta Kumar Sarkar, who compiles the district’s Covid-related information, said that another patient having Covid symptoms died at a private clinic in the district town during the time.

In the 24-hour period, the positivity rate in Satkhira was 37.01 per cent, which became a matter concern for the people of the border district.

The New Age correspondent in Barishal reported that five people died of Covid-10 in the district in the past 24 hours.

Officials of the divisional health directorate and Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital said that due to the coronavirus a total of 298 people had died so far.

United News of Bangladesh reported that the authorities on Thursday imposed a weeklong lockdown in the nine upazilas of Bagerhat district to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Bangladesh officially announced the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country on March 8, 2020, recording the first death from the disease on March 18, 2020.

The DGHS daily update showed that 36 of Thursday’s dead were aged above 60 years, 18 between 51 years and 60 years, nine between 41 years and 50 years, another nine between 31 years and 40 years, eight between 21 years and 30 years and one between 11 years and 20 years.

Among the deceased, 55 were male and 26 female.

Sixty-two of them died at public hospitals, 14 at private ones and five died at home, according to government statistics.

A total of 3,230 people recovered from the viral disease in the period totalling the number 7,94,783.

The government on Monday ordered tougher restrictions on public movement and activities except emergency services in seven districts of Dhaka division for nine days from Wednesday till June 30 midnight considering the coronavirus situation.

New Age