The devastating phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh is over.
The country registered 35 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, the lowest daily count in three months, while the current positivity rate dropped to 6.54 percent.
Experts lauded the timely and impactful measures by the government in achieving this feat and bringing the virus under hard control.
Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told the Bangladesh Post the last lockdown implemented by the government played a big role in bringing the virus under control.
“The last strict lockdown imposed after Eid-Ul-Azha had proven to be very effective. Gradually from then on we have seen the numbers go down,” he said.
He added that the vaccine campaign, especially the step to vaccinate the elders first and gradually moving down the age order, also aided controlling the situation.
Countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and other European countries are still in grave struggle to control the impact of the virus as suggested by the daily average statistics. The west of the world, including USA, is no different.
Bangladesh’s healthcare service is not up to the mark when compared to the ones of the countries mentioned. Furthermore, the large population of the country makes it difficult to impose health protocols effectively. Still, Bangladesh has had significantly greater success in combating with the deadly virus.
Former advisor to the WHO, Mojaherul Haque, told the Bangladesh Post there are two factors that differentiate Bangladesh’ approach from the other countries.
The factors are the fact Bangladesh has been able to encourage people to maintain health guidelines; and the country has been able to successfully bring a vulnerable part of the population (elderly) under the vaccination wing.
“It can be said that the situation is getting under control. Once the infection rate falls below 5 percent, it has be to maintained for at least two weeks in order to consider it fully under control,” he said.
He added that this does not mean that the people can relax the cautiousness. This approach towards health measures need to continue. Furthermore, the people need to be more active and immediate in responding to their illness. The delay in reporting sickness is what made the situation worse earlier.
However, the total number of deaths stands at 27,007.The country recorded 2,074 new infections in the meantime taking the total number of people infected to 15,34,440, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday.
The death rate now stands at 1.76 percent in the country, added the release.
Forty-one people died on Monday, 51 on Sunday, 48 on Saturday, 36 on Friday, 56 on Thursday and 52 on Wednesday. The overall positivity rate stands at 16.49 percent.
Among the 35 deceased on Tuesday, 21 were men and 14 were women. Among the deaths reported on the day, 15 died in Dhaka division, eight in Chattogram, four each in Rajshahi and Khulna, and two each in Barishal and Sylhet divisions.
A total of 31,724 samples were tested across the country in 24 hours until 8am on Tuesday.
At least 3,735 Covid-19 patients recovered during the time. The total number of recoveries reached 14,86,668 and the recovery rate is 96.89 percent.
As of Tuesday, 4,655,120 people died of Covid-19 across the world and 226,212,155 have been infected so far, according to Worldometer.
