Bangladesh on Friday announced a strict nationwide lockdown until further notice to check the spread of Covid-19, as it reported 108 deaths from the coronavirus, the second highest single-day toll since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
Health officials said the deadly delta version of the coronavirus, first identified in India, has spread in Dhaka, increasing pressure on health facilities in the country’s capital.
An official order said, “Barring emergency services, all government and private offices will remain closed. No one will be allowed to leave the house without necessary reasons.”
It states that only goods laden and emergency vehicles will be allowed to ply during the lockdown.
death toll Covid-19 reaches 13,976, while total number of positive cases According to the latest figures from the Health Ministry, the figure has touched 8,78,804 with 5,869 new cases in the last 24 hours.
On April 19 this year, the highest number of 112 deaths were recorded in the country.
The health officials’ report came hours after the Ministry of Public Administration said they await the government’s decision to impose a two-week-long nationwide lockdown in line with the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on COVID-19.
“We are ready to impose shutdown at any time. It (enforcement) will be tougher than last year,” Farhad Hussain, junior minister of public administration, told reporters.
The NTAC said that they have recommended a “strict nationwide lockdown?? When no office except emergency services will operate as their experts were convinced that the worsening situation could not be controlled without a nationwide shutdown.”
Bangladesh is experiencing an increase in the Covid-19 infection rate, according to the latest report by the World Health Organization (WHO), which states that 43 of the country’s 64 administrative districts were “very high risk?? While 15 others, including Dhaka, “high risk???” were on
Health officials said the delta version of the coronavirus has spread in Dhaka, increasing pressure on health facilities here.
Delta type cases have also been reported in the northern and south-western regions bordering India.
officials ordered last week Lockdown in seven central districts around Dhaka In an effort to isolate the capital from the rest of the country to prevent community transmission in view of rising infection cases in the border areas.
But the experts said The Delta version made its way through the capital Community transmission and doctors said that the number of Kovid-19 patients in hospitals is increasing every day.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the country’s largest government health facility, said 80 per cent of their Covid-19 patients were residents of the capital and the number is increasing every day.
“The number of COVID-19 patients in DMCH is increasing day by day and 80 per cent of them are residents of Dhaka city. This means that the infection rate in the capital is increasing,” said Brigadier General MD Najmul Haque, director of DMCH, state-run The news agency told BSS.
Haq said the current number of Covid-19 patients in DMCH is almost four times more than last month and fears that if the trend continues “all general and ICU beds in the city will be completed within 10 to 12 days”. ??
Reporting an almost identical picture with its Additional Director Najmul Karim Manik, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital said that the pressure (of coronavirus patients) is increasing gradually and most of them are from Dhaka.
Professor Dr Tehmina Shirin, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said the districts bordering India are more exposed to the delta variant than Dhaka.
“The delta variant is largely responsible for the recent spike in coronavirus cases. We should check the movement of people in border districts to prevent community transmission,” Shirin said.
DGHS officials said that the situation in the districts bordering with India, especially in the south-western Khulna region, is getting worse and the COVID-19 positivity rate was found to be 100 percent at places.
(with PTI inputs)