It is our habit to defeat odds

As the coronavirus continues to search for new hosts across the planet, the emergence of a new variant “Delta” is now sweeping Bangladesh that very closely fell into its trajectory from India, but it’s not long when this unseen enemy will vanish into oblivion.

The strenuous efforts of the government since the onset of the virus, the country is not that much ravaged by the raging pathogen compared to the other hosts where this microorganism has caused annihilation.

Considered twice as infectious as the initial form of the coronavirus, the Delta variant appears to be somewhat tamed here since the death toll as well as the rate of infections is far less than what was noticed in India.

To keep the coronavirus at bay won’t be possible, therefore, a perennial and daunting task as the government machinery and other agencies are closely watching day-to-day situations and taking measures accordingly.

A mass inoculation has already been underway while millions of doses of vaccines are expected to arrive soon – a deliberate attempt on the part of the government to give the lion’s share of entire population a double shot in the arm in order to stave them off the infections.

A look back at the past record of human efforts would strengthen the optimism that the coronavirus will be overpowered soon and it will say goodbye to mother earth.

From finding tackling measures to developing antigens, the global community is focused on the issue day in and day out and Bangladesh is no exception. It is complying with the World Health Organisation guidelines and adopting strategies on a par with other republics.

It is true that ours is a country with most densely populated habitat with a fragile healthcare system, and it is also known to all that inadequate facilities gripping the hospitals and clinics lead to an increase in the number of deaths in recent days.

But the death toll is still not so alarming as was evident in the US, England, Italy and Spain where the death rates are way high.

To fight the new variant, the authorities concerned are trying up and doing their best to raise awareness among people who are more in a way swayed by dogmatic thought and not giving a damn to this highly contagious virus.

Apart from putting the country under intermittent shutdown to contain the spread of the virus, mandating masks and social distancing have also been touted as the norm that has to be exercised in every sphere – be it in home or in workplaces -- and based on which all establishments are back to business now.

The country has shown remarkable resilience during the pandemic. While the economic conditions of most other countries are reeling under this trying time, Bangladesh’s economy still shines – remittance, export, GDP all keeping a steady pace of growth.

In order to keep the economic lifeline afloat, the government has declared incentives for businesses while a large segment of the impoverished and downtrodden segment of the populace have also been brought under the stimulus package.

An all-out effort has been put into effect to tackle the disastrous effect of coronavirus and steer the country as well as the economy towards the path of progress amidst the pandemic. Everyone clings to the hope that the country will graduate into a middle-income country status in no time.

Bangladesh is recognised for resilience against all odds that come its way. The odds came before in all forms of catastrophes and were beaten.

And so will be this time either.

Our resilience, determination and just strategies to defeat the virus would make the nation virus-free. The government has to keep it in mind that under any situation businesses must be kept out of virus lockdown. Lives are important, so are means to survive.

Quick responses from development partners in terms of granting resources to procure vaccines for above 16 crore population, and budgetary allocation simply justify the holistic responses to the emergency. All quarters must act promptly to halt the delta variant. It is our habit to defeat odds.

It is praiseworthy that both mortality and infections have been going down since last week, thanks to mass inoculation and people’s consciousness towards heath issues. Women tend to stay their homes, while males’ movement without valid reasons have decreased.

The efforts of the government towards containing the virus spread is not enough as mass participation and awareness to halt the spread also makes huge sense towards the end.

The nation defeated the Pakistani forces, defeated Urdu patrons and lovers in the language movement, grounded autocrat Ershad regime and keeps on winning against natural calamities like flood and drought.

We have defeated extreme poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, low-income country’s stigma and so on.

The writer is Executive Editor at The Business Post