Tackling the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

An outbreak of a COVID-19 pandemic disease, caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has posed a serious threat to global human health. Bangladesh has also come under the attack of this viral disease. Here, we aimed to describe the responses of Bangladesh to tackle the COVID-19, particularly on how Bangladesh is dealing with this novel viral disease with its limited resources. The first case of a COVID-19 patient was detected in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020. Since then, a total of 263,503 peoples are officially reported as COVID-19 infected with 3,471 deaths until August 11, 2020. To combat the COVID-19, the government has taken various steps viz. diagnosis of the suspected cases, quarantine of doubted people and isolation of infected patients, local or regional lockdown, closure of all government and private offices, increase public awareness and enforce social distancing, etc. Moreover, to address the socio-economic situations, the government announced several financial stimulus packages of about USD 11.90 billion. However, the government got 3 months since the disease was first reported in China, but the country failed in making proper strategies including contact tracing, introducing antibody/antigen-based rapid detection kit, and also failed to make multi-disciplinary team to combat this disease. Further, limited testing facilities and inadequate treatment service along with public unawareness are the major challenges for Bangladesh to tackle this situation effectively. Along with the government, personal awareness and assistance of non-government organizations, private organizations, researchers, doctors, industrialists, and international organizations are firmly required to mitigate this highly contagious disease.

SARS-CoV-2 molecular identification and clinical data analysis of associated risk factors from a COVID-19 testing laboratory of a coastal region in Bangladesh

“…While all age ranges are at risk of contracting COVID-19, older individuals are at significant risk of experiencing serious illness as a result of physiological changes arising from aging and possible underlying health conditions [ 19 ]. Bangladesh has a median age of 27.6 years, and the young and middle-aged in Bangladesh come mostly under the working class and are more likely to be forced to leave home for jobs and thus have a higher risk of being infected [ 20 ]. Our findings are also consistent with early reports 21 , 22 resulting that younger people are less likely to be affected, supported by several studies.…”

“…After three confirmed cases of COVID-19 first diagnosed in Bangladesh, the government has placed in place protective measures to combat the spread of the deadly COVID-19 strain that has rattled the globe. As the virus is extremely infectious, quick diagnosis is the best way to isolate infected individuals 6 , 7 , 20 . COVID-19 deaths in Bangladesh, warned by the experts that in view of the growing number of death cases a visible scenario could be the tip of an iceberg [ 6 ].…”

Space-Time Patterns, Change, and Propagation of COVID-19 Risk Relative to the Intervention Scenarios in Bangladesh

“…A recent study [ 14 ] reported that the COVID-19 trend in Bangladesh showed deviation from the epidemiological model, and they identified potential factors responsible for this deviation. Overall, Bangladesh’s COVID-19 characteristic patterns reflect the following: an inadequate testing and treatment capacity, insufficient supply of personal protection equipment, poor public sanitation practices, poorly managed public health care system and services, lack of public awareness, large-scale violation of social distancing order ( Figure 1 , Figure 3, Figure A2 and Figure A3 ), a large vulnerable population (e.g., Rohingya refugees), community-level transmission, and dire economic impacts [ 15 ]. While existing research and unpublished reports highlight these important aspects of the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, knowledge is largely missing on the geographic perspectives of the transmission dynamics and intervention scenarios in the country.…”

Combating COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh: A Memorandum from Developing Country

“…COVID-19 is an infectious disease that was identified for the first time in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, China in December 2019 and then it spread rapidly throughout the world [6,7]. After almost three and a half months of the first COVID-19 patient detected in China, three coronavirus cases (including two men and one women) have been tested positive for the first time on 8 March 2020 in Dhaka, Bangladesh [8] where two of them returned from Italy and the other is a relative of one of the returnees. Their ages were between 20 and 35 years, which was ensured by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).…”