Defusing Bangladesh’s COVID-19 time bomb

Collected
Bangladesh includes a health crisis in the making. Having less preparation in the United States and Europe which has spawned the ongoing crisis there still exceeds the preparedness of developing countries such as Bangladesh, which will have to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with limited money and a legacy of poor healthcare infrastructure, especially for the urban poor. Already probably the most densely populated countries on the globe, Bangladesh also has a large number of stateless Rohingya housed in sprawling refugee camps in the southeastern region of the united states, in conditions prime for rapid spread. Given its proximity to China and a huge migrant population moving into severely affected countries such as for example Italy, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should have taken preventative measures when the Chinese government first shared news of the deadly virus. Unfortunately, valuable time was squandered.

Following the first reported death in Bangladesh from COVID-19, there was a mass religious gathering in the southern portion of the country attended by tens of thousands of people. Such events have already been discouraged by authorities but communications must be clearer and more forceful to work. Currently you will find a ten-day nationwide holiday from March 26 to April 4, where the army is enforcing social distancing across the nation. There are various potential policies the Bangladeshi government may use in its response strategy to blunt the COVID-19 pandemic’s health and economic impact on Bangladesh.

The current situation
The Bangladeshi research institute spearheading the fight to test and detect coronavirus may be the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), a body under the Ministry of Health. The IEDCR has recommended that citizens avoid mass public gatherings. Yet, for the March 17 birth centenary of the country’s founder, Sheikh Mijibur Rahman, the federal government arranged two major public events in Dhaka. These events were supposedly more scaled down from their original intended size, but however they was still filled with a large number of celebrants, live music, and fireworks.

Unlike in neighboring Nepal where in fact the army set up a quarantine facility in Kathmandu according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation after the first positive COVID-19 test, the handling of quarantine measures in Bangladesh was inadequate. When the first batch of mass returnees arrived from China in February, they were all quarantined at the Ashkana Hajj Camp in Dhaka. The returnees complained about subpar conditions, including poor hygienic conditions and being crammed in small spaces. However, the authorities ignored the problem and medical risks it posed to those in quarantine. Subsequently, in mid-March when the next batch of foreign returnees-over a hundred and forty Bangladeshis evacuated from Italy-arrived, confusion ensued if they were taken up to the same inadequate quarantine spot. These returnees protested and were finally allowed to leave with the promise of “home quarantine.”

On March 18, thousands of men and women gathered in Raipur in the southern district of Lakshmipur to pray “healing verses” from the Quran. This event was organized by an influential local religious leader who urged persons to become listed on this event, promising ways to be “clear of the coronavirus.” The same week, school holidays were announced to aid the quarantine, but domestic holiday destinations including the coastal areas of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar were all bustling with persons and activity. On March 20, the Islamic Foundation allowed congregational prayers to be on albeit for a shortened length.

Such contradiction in policy guidance and lack-luster enforcement has wasted precious time for the federal government to shore up its limited public health system and implement best practices for maximizing social distancing and minimizing community transmission of the novel coronavirus. The impact on Bangladesh’s economy because of these missteps may very well be significant.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that export industries will suffer and the country will eventually lose 1.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) growth due to the pandemic. The ready-made garments sector which makes up about more than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s manufacturing income has already suffered a lack of $3 billion as major export destinations such as the United States, United Kingdom, and EU are cancelling orders. Furthermore, foreign remittances representing over 5 percent of GDP (near $17 billion in fiscal year 2019) will be afflicted as half of a million migrant personnel have returned home since the outbreak. The majority of these migrant staff were based in Middle Eastern countries which were hit by declining oil prices. Furthermore, daily wage laborers, such as rickshaw-pullers, will be the hardest hit as the closure of schools and colleges have resulted in lower demand for his or her services. For these workers-who survive hand to mouth daily-the consequences of quarantines and lockdowns, however medically necessary, are dire without robust government provision of food and supplementary income.

Some encouraging news
Bangladesh’s government is hardly alone in not tackling the pandemic early enough. Fortunately, after a slow start, the federal government has begun showing signs of urgency. Following mass religious gathering in southern Bangladesh, the government started enforcing social distancing measures. Local administrations have already been told to punish violators of the home-quarantine rules consistent with Section 269 of the Penal Code. Additionally, an emergency lockdown has been imposed in the sub-district of Shibchar since March 19 where many returnees from Italy are based. The overall secretary of the ruling party Awami League, Obaidul Quader, said that later on there might be a possibility of further lockdowns in the areas. Most recently, the federal government declared a ten-day nationwide holiday from March 26 to April 4, wherein all government and private offices have already been closed, and with the army mobilized to enforce social distancing across the nation. Virtually all international flights have been suspended until April 7 and the country’s March 26 Independence Day celebrations were subdued.

The federal government encouraged low-income people to come back to their villages where they might discover government aid or even to take refuge in Bhashanchar, an island in the Bay of Bengal originally created to house Rohingya refugees. On March 20, the federal government authorized the Bangladesh Army to run two quarantine centers in Dhaka. One quarantine facility remains the same Ashkona Hajj Camp which has proved inadequate before. The other is a fresh one at Rajuk Apartment Project near Diyabari in Uttara.

In the medical arena, there's been progress aswell. Isolation wards to treat COVID-19 patients have been set up in district-level hospitals across the country. Students and teachers of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Dhaka have started making low-cost hand sanitizers due to market shortages in the wake of coronavirus fears. And, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, a public health center in Dhaka, received approval from the country’s Directorate of Drug Administration (DGDA) to mass-produce COVID-19 detection kits, each costing around $3.
Source: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org

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