COVID-19 and Bangladesh: Challenges and How to Address Them

Abstract

As the coronavirus outbreak quickly surges worldwide, many countries are adopting non-therapeutic preventive measures, which include travel bans, remote office activities, country lockdown, and most importantly, social distancing. However, these measures face challenges in Bangladesh, a lower-middle-income economy with one of the world's densest populations. Social distancing is difficult in many areas of the country, and with the minimal resources the country has, it would be extremely challenging to implement the mitigation measures. Mobile sanitization facilities and temporary quarantine sites and healthcare facilities could help mitigate the impact of the pandemic at a local level. A prompt, supportive, and empathic collaboration between the Government, citizens, and health experts, along with international assistance, can enable the country to minimize the impact of the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; community mitigation; healthcare; infection prevention and control; non-therapeutic intervention; novel coronavirus; testing.

Figure 1

Current situation regarding COVID-19 in Bangladesh (April 13, 2020). (A) Total number of cases identified in Bangladesh (5, 6); (B) number of cases identified daily (5, 6); (C) number of actives cases daily (5, 7); (D) number of daily death incidences and total deaths (5).

Figure 2

Number of tests done daily. The rate of testing rose significantly 4 weeks after the identification of the first case of COVID-19 in the country (5).

Figure 3

Total number of COVID-19 cases daily after the identification of the 10th case in Bangladesh and in 10 other countries (1, 7). Bangladesh's trendline is comparable with the trendlines of France and Japan. As of now (April 13, 2020), the trendline of the US remains far lower (74 total cases on day 28) than Bangladesh's until the 28th day after the identification of 10 positive cases.