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Covid-19 cases jumping high in Bangladesh


Published : 12 May 2020 09:38 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 06:59 PM

The prediction by the special committee formed by the government over the Covid-19 outbreak has started to become true as the number of infection by the deadly virus has been increasing in a large number day by day. Moreover, the number of deaths are also rising alarmingly.

Earlier in April, the special committee made a forecast that the number of coronavirus infected people might stand at 50,000 to 100,000 by May.

As per the estimation, the number of infected people in last three days was much more compared to the other days. According to information received on Tuesday from the Health Department, a total of 969 people were tested positive with Covid-19 while 11 people died in 24 hours.

Some 1,034 people were infected in 24 hours till Monday. The number of infected people was 887 on Sunday.
Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Prof Dr Nasima Sultana on Tuesday said that the total number of infected people in Bangladesh stood at 16,660 while the total number of deaths was 250.

Experts said the Covid-19 pandemic will take a severe turn in Bangladesh if the health directives are not obeyed by the people properly.

They also urged the people of the country to obey the directives to stop spread of the deadly virus. They also have urged the government to make people aware so that they maintain social distancing and other directives.

Health experts further warned saying that the number of Covid-19 patients would increase when people would come out of their homes for shopping. Many people have already joined their workplaces. The relaxation of lockdown might lead the country to a disaster.

They also put emphasize on more tests to identify infected people. So that the affected people can be isolated from others.
According to them, the number of tests is very less than it supposed to be done. The number of tests should be at least 20,000 per day, they suggested.

Earlier on March 26, the government formed a committee comprising eight public health experts to review and coordinate the healthcare activities undertaken to deal with the coronavirus situation. Every expert of the committee has been given the responsibility of an individual department. They then made five predictions to the Department of Health based on epidemiological formulas on what the future corona infection might look like in the country.

They predicted that some 48 to 50 thousand people could be infected and 800 to 1,000 people could die in the country till May 31.

Another forecast said the number of Corona patients could reach one lakh in May. The infection can then rise to a stage where it can stabilize and decrease at the end of June.

Bangladesh is now ranked 34th in the world, third in South Asia, in terms of the number of people infected with coronavirus.
Prof. Shah Monir Hossain, expert committee in-charge of Dhaka Division and former Director General of the Department of Health, said, "According to our forecast, the infection will continue to increase in May and some 40 to 50 thousand people may be infected."

He also said, “Hopefully it will start to decline by the end of June. However, the prognosis will depend on whether people follow the hygiene rules properly or not.”

“Now shops, shopping malls and mosques are open. Many people are coming out of their houses. If this situation continues, many others will be infected,” he feared.

Former World Health Organization (WHO) adviser (South Asia) Professor Mozaherul Haque said, “The corona infection that I see in Bangladesh is not the right picture. We will know the exact situation only when we can expand the Corona identification test across the country and make it available to the public.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Prof. Dr. Nazrul Islam said the corona infection is now on the rise. The government needs to be advised on what to do now. I will sit in the meeting in a couple of days.