Present scenario of COVID-19 in Bangladesh and government preparedness for facing challenges

26, March 2021 |

Authors:

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been showing a speedy growth in the number of infected patients with a remarkable mortality rate, thus it has become a worldwide public health concern. From March 8, 2020, the virus started spreading in Bangladesh. Since then, people got infected so exponentially that the country positions at the list of top infected countries in the world. Therefore, the objective of this comprehensive review was representing overall scenario of COVID-19 in different sectors of Bangladesh. Because of insufficient scientific publications, we chose materials published by several agencies, media outlets, newspapers, and policy experts to retrieve details information. Up to 4 March 2021, 547,930 confirmed cases and 8,428 deaths were reported in Bangladesh. An alarming fact is that while the global mutation rate of coronavirus is 7.23 % in average, the rate is 12.6 % in Bangladesh. Although the government ruled preventive strategies such as nationwide lockdown, social distancing, contact monitoring, quarantine, and isolation, it was difficult to implement those due to lack of public awareness, inappropriate attitudes and so on. Moreover, the overburdened healthcare system had a weak response at initial stage because of insufficient healthcare facilities. Consequently, this pandemic affected severely almost all the important sectors of the country, specifically the economy, agriculture, education, and health sector. Hence, focusing on healthcare system, maintaining social distance, and other essential precautions can limit the spread of infection and help to alleviate the severity of this pandemic.