Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic: The Bangladesh perspective

15, December 2020 | Bangladesh

Authors:

Abstract

An outbreak of a COVID-19 pandemic disease, caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has posed a serious threat to global human health. Bangladesh has also come under the attack of this viral disease. Here, we aimed to describe the responses of Bangladesh to tackle the COVID-19, particularly on how Bangladesh is dealing with this novel viral disease with its limited resources. The first case of a COVID-19 patient was detected in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020. Since then, a total of 263,503 peo- ples are officially reported as COVID-19 infected with 3,471 deaths until August 11, 2020. To combat the COVID-19, the gov- ernment has taken various steps viz. diagnosis of the suspected cases, quarantine of doubted people and isolation of infected patients, local or regional lockdown, closure of all government and private offices, increase public awareness and enforce social distancing, etc. Moreover, to address the socio-economic situa- tions, the government announced several financial stimulus pack- ages of about USD 11.90 billion. However, the government got 3 months since the disease was first reported in China, but the coun- try failed in making proper strategies including contact tracing, introducing antibody/antigen-based rapid detection kit, and also failed to make multi-disciplinary team to combat this disease. Further, limited testing facilities and inadequate treatment service along with public unawareness are the major challenges for Bangladesh to tackle this situation effectively. Along with the gov- ernment, personal awareness and assistance of non-government organizations, private organizations, researchers, doctors, indus- trialists, and international organizations are firmly required to mit- igate this highly contagious disease.