Coronavirus in Bangladesh: Highest level of responsibility needed

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research confirmed three cases of novel coronavirus infection in Bangladesh, after two months and seven days of the outbreak that began in Hubei province of China. It is no shock as the virus has already spread in almost 101 countries across the globe including SAARC countries and it was feared earlier that the virus might spread in Bangladesh in no time.

Not only that, the urge to take all the measures needed to combat the outbreak has been repeatedly voiced. Although the government said sufficient preparations have been taken, doubts and apprehensions remain as the words of our governments do not match with their actionsin most of the cases. The matter became even more significant when the Chinese ambassador appointed to Bangladesh commented on 3 March that Bangladesh government's preparatory measures to combat the possible outbreak of coronavirus were not satisfactory.

However, when we are at high risk, it is our duty of the moment to try to deal with it with the highest responsibility, sincerity and efficiency. We can benefit if we look for the experiences of countries who have been dealing with this catastrophe before us. The first affected country, China, isolated the affected people and areas to prevent the spread of the virus in the first place. Other affected countries including South Korea, Iran, and Italy also took quarantine as their first measure. This is the first urgent task, as the coronavirus is severely infectious. But this can be very difficult for Bangladesh as our population is much higher than all countries affected by coronavirus. Our capital Dhaka is the world's number one metropolitan city in terms of density of population.

The infection needs to be identified before isolating people. Do we have adequate preparation and capacity for that? There is only one centre for diagnosing coronavirus patients and that is in the capital Dhaka. The question is whether the arrangements are sufficient to detect the infection if a huge number of people simultaneously fall sick. And what will be the mechanism for identifying those affected outside Dhaka? No private organisation has been permitted to open coronavirus detection centre. It has to be given a second thought whether this is possible for the government to handle the situation single handed. Health checking facilities for incoming people from abroad are not sufficient, said a number of media reports. This should be done with special importance, as the coronavirus is spreading from those countries.

Until now, the number of patients diagnosed is quite low, but the number is likely to increase much more. Keeping that in mind, the patients need to be well-informed. Also, efforts to reduce the risk of infection should be enhanced significantly. This requires widespread public awareness. There is a lot of advice from physicians and experts in the media about ways to prevent it. We must strive to combat with this crisis by follow them at all levels, individuals, families, institutions.