Negligence blamed as daily Covid cases rise

The number of daily Covid-19 cases has been rising over the past few days in Bangladesh, for which authorities concerned have blamed the lack of awareness among people.

In the 24 hours till 8am Friday, the health authorities recorded 433 new cases, 385 in Dhaka alone, pushing up the daily infection rate to 6.27 per cent.

According to DGHS, the total caseload reached 19,55,427. No deaths were, however, recorded over the same period, keeping the death toll at 29,131.

On Thursday, the positivity rate was at 5.76 per cent.

Over 100 new cases were logged every day in the last six days since June 12, when the infection rate was 2.06 per cent.

According to DGHS officials, although most of the new patients were found in Dhaka city, they have noticed a significant lack of awareness among people all over the country over the past few days.

To tackle the situation, meanwhile, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) of Covid-19 has made six recommendations, including a request to the mass media urging them to spread awareness and remotivate the people again to follow the health safety rules.

Dr Mohammad Robed Amin, line director at the Non Communicable Disease Control of DGHS, told The Business Post that Covid cases are rising in different countries around the world because of a new sub-variant of the Omicron variant.

Since there is no strict travel ban anymore, this sub-variant can enter Bangladesh via anyone coming from an affected country, he added.

Dr ASM Alamgir, the principal scientific officer at the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, said the pandemic never ended but people in Bangladesh have been reluctant to follow the health safety rules since the number of cases dropped.

“Around 4,00,000 new Covid patients are being identified every day all over the world. In epidemiology, we say that if one person is identified, then at least five people were not. In that case, give or take, two million people are contracting Covid every day. That is the reality. It’s the same for Bangladesh as well,” he said.

Bangladesh reported its first three Covid cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death 10 days later.

November 20, 2021, was the first day that saw no Covid deaths in 24 hours, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020. On the other hand, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and the highest daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 same year.

After the infection rate started gradually declining in mid-February this year, the government reopened educational institutions and lifted the Covid-related restrictions.

Between March 25 and June 12, the number of Covid cases was below 100 every day. However, since June 13, the daily infection rate started climbing again.

Under the circumstances, Health Minister Zahid Maleque has urged everyone to be more alert and follow the health guidelines. He also emphasized the importance of vaccination.

At a virtual meeting on Tuesday night, the NTAC also suggested six measures, including making the wearing of face masks mandatory outside of the home and strict enforcement of the “No Mask, No Service” policy, to tackle the rising infection rate.

Urging people to maintain social distance and avoid all types of public gatherings, the committee also asked the government to take necessary preventative measures at all air, land and seaports.

It said that carrying Covid-19 negative and vaccination certificates could be made mandatory again for incoming passengers. Those who are yet to receive the second and booster doses of the Covid vaccine should be urged to take it as soon as possible.

Until Friday morning, the health authorities recorded the recovery of 19,05,711 people across the country.