There has been a sudden increase in the number of COVID-19 related calls to the health hotline 16263 has suddenly increased. You can get any health advice by calling this number.
There was one death from COVID-19 reported in the country this Thursday. While the situation is not yet alarming, the prevalence of the disease is rising in the country. At the same time, the number of calls to 16263 is increasing as well.
Nizam Uddin Ahmed, chief executive officer (CEO) of the health hotline, told Prothom Alo on Sunday, “Since the recent death from COVID-19, we’ve been receiving significantly more calls related to the virus, something we weren’t seeing before. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is also speaking of a rise in COVID-19 cases.”
In this situation, public health experts are calling for increasing the number of test kits and restarting the vaccination programme to contain the possible spread of the virus.
They recommend that vaccinations be resumed not only for the elderly people, pregnant women, and those with other critical health conditions, but also for individuals who received the last dose of vaccine over six months ago.
However, no COVID-19 test kits were found while visiting three government hospitals in Dhaka. According to sources in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) under the DGHS, there are currently 3.1 million (31 lakh) vaccine doses in stock.
Of those, 1.7 million (17 lakh) doses will expire by August. Experts also believe that a policy-level decision is now required to resume the COVID-19 vaccination.
In reality, COVID-19 prevention efforts are virtually non-existent at the moment. Even the collection and monitoring of COVID-related data at the DGHS is progressing slowly. In this situation, a new variant of the virus has been identified. In neighbouring India, cases of another new variant are also on the rise.
In the last 24 hours, starting from 8:00 am on Saturday to 8:00 am on Sunday, three new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Bangladesh. As many as 22 cases have been recorded so far this month while, there were 50 cases in the entire month of May.
According to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), only one COVID-19 case was reported in the last week of April. However, by the final week of May, the number had increased to 25.
Researchers at icddr,b have confirmed detecting a new variant of the virus named XFG. Another variant named XFC, has also been identified. Both are sub variants of JN.1, a highly transmissible strain of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Mustafizur Rahman, head of the virology laboratory at icddr,b, told Prothom Alo Sunday that there is no need to panic about these new variants. Viruses tend to mutate rapidly. However, everyone should remain cautious.
Alongside the new variants identified in Bangladesh, a new strain named NB.1.8.1 is spreading in India. India reported 378 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday alone.
In reality, COVID-19 prevention efforts are virtually non-existent at the moment. Even the collection and monitoring of COVID-related data at the Directorate General of Health Services is progressing slowly. Amid this lax situation, a new variant of the virus has been identified. In neighbouring India, cases of another new variant are also on the rise.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in a notice issued on 23 May, stated that the NB.1.8.1 variant is spreading steadily, with a higher transmission rate. However, this variant does not pose a greater health risk compared to earlier strains of COVID-19.
There is no guarantee that this variant spreading in India will not reach Bangladesh. Rather the risk is quite real believes public health expert Abu Jamil Faisal. He stresses the need for preparedness to prevent COVID resurgence. However, little action is currently being noticed in this regard.
Test kit crisis, vaccine shortage
Public health experts are emphasising the need for adequate test kits in hospitals and healthcare centres to contain further transmission of COVID-19. But the reality on the ground tells a different story. visiting at three major hospitals in Dhaka, the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, and Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital on Sunday, it was found that none of them currently have any COVID-19 test kits in stock.
A physician at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that patients aren’t coming in right now. But even if they do, there is no way to test them. Perhaps people already know this, which is why they are not coming here.
As infections continue to rise, the Directorate General of Health Services held a meeting on 22 April, where it recommended administering COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups. A letter in this regard was sent to various levels of the government.
AFM Shahabuddin Khan, manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), told Prothom Alo Sunday that they currently have 3.1 million (31 lakh) doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in stock. Of these, more than 1.7 million (1,716,900) doses were distributed across all districts over the past two months, and they are set to expire by 6 August. That means the actual number of usable doses now stands at 1.4 million (14 lakh).
Public health expert Mushtuq Husain believes that vaccinations should not be limited to high-risk groups alone. Anyone who received the last dose of COVID-19 vaccine over six months ago should also take a booster. But if such a campaign is to be launched, the current vaccine stock is far from adequate. The government could reach out to the WHO or other donors to secure more vaccines, he suggested.
However, AFM Shahabuddin Khan noted that not just for procuring the vaccines, the funds needed to run a public awareness campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated is not available either. He called on the media to step in and help raise awareness.
Preparedness for a potential COVID-19 resurgence remains minimal. The daily updates issued by the Directorate General of Health Services also show a lot of inconsistencies. For instance, the same bulletin was issued on both 1 and 2 June. Sources within the DGHS say that the desk responsible for verifying COVID-19 data has had its staff reduced.
DGHS director general Abu Zafar acknowledged the shortage of testing kits. Speaking to Prothom Alo Sunday, he said, “There is indeed a shortage of kits, and we are working to resolve it. We are aware that COVID-19 cases are rising in certain areas of the country. However, the situation is not yet at an alarming level.”