Fresh surge in Covid-19 cases is most worrying
AS Bangladesh has been witnessing a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases for the last few days with more than 1,000 cases each day, it is likely to be an indication of a fresh wave of the deadly virus. Apathy to wear masks and maintain health safety rules, and the prevalence of highly transmissible UK variant can be the main reasons behind the spike in the corona cases and deaths.
According to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), on Monday some 18,695 samples were tested and out of those, 1,773 people were found to be positive for coronavirus. Not only the infection rate but also the number of deaths jumped suddenly. On Monday, 26 people died from coronavirus, which is the highest in the last two and a half-months. A steady fall in the infection rate had reached 2.33 per cent on February 21, which spiked to 9.48 per cent on Monday — a fourfold rise.
It is a cause for concern that at present there is no visible action of the health department at the field level to contain the second wave of the virus. Its work is limited to treatment of patients, collection of samples for testing and vaccination. There is no nationwide campaign on controlling infection. The hospitals once again are close to being overwhelmed with patients after the sudden surge in coronavirus cases.
The new strain of the UK variant, according to IEDCR, was first detected among the expatriates from the Great Britain. Although the expatriates are instructed to go into compulsory quarantine, there has been an allegation that not everyone is following the directive. As per the global genome-sequencing database — GISAID, there are at least 11 other variants including the UK and South African ones in the country.
The authorities concerned therefore must be ready in case hospitals do get over burdened again, and at the same time, ensure that people continue to behave responsibly at this juncture. We were very close to putting the pandemic behind us, but we are not there as yet. This is worrisome.
