Containing Fresh Covid Surge: Govt to ramp up measures

A sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in the country has sparked fresh fears, forcing the authorities to issue official instructions and take up measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The government has asked officials at all administrative tiers to implement the health guidelines properly and re-launch mobile court drives to punish those not following the rules. It has also ordered the health authorities to maintain adequate oxygen flow at hospitals in case the situation worsens.

On Saturday in a meeting of the Awami League Local Government Nomination Board, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is the head of the party, instructed all to follow health safety rules strictly. She also said she was closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation.

"We're seeing a rise in coronavirus [infection]. It is alarming. We all will have to be alert and follow the health guidelines like we did previously. I'm personally monitoring the situation," an Awami League presidium member quoted her as saying.

During her speech, the prime minister hinted that the government may reconsider extending the closure of educational institutions.

"Educational institutions will be reopened if the situation becomes normal," said the presidium member, on condition of anonymity.

As per the existing schedule, secondary and higher secondary educational institutions are scheduled to reopen on March 30, universities on May 24 and student dormitories on May 17.

Contacted, Deputy Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury told this paper that no dates, however, were final.

"Everything depends on the transmission [of the virus] and vaccination rate," he added.

The country has been witnessing a fresh surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths for the past several days. Yesterday, the health directorate reported 18 new deaths from the virus, the highest for a single day in around three weeks.

The Covid-19 death toll in the country has reached 8,545.

Lately, the Covid-19-dedicated hospitals are witnessing a rise in the number of patients. The general hospitals are also getting an increased number of patients complaining of breathing difficulties, one of the symptoms of Covid-19.

Covid-19 transmission in the country started gradually slowing down in January, but deaths and transmission rates have been on the rise over the past few weeks.

The percentage of positive cases, known as positivity rate, rose to 7.15 percent yesterday, the highest in the last two months. It was 6.26 percent a day ago, and 6.62 percent on Friday.

Between January 20 and March 4, the positivity rate stayed below five percent.

The number of new cases was 1,159 against a total of 16,206 tests done in 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 5,57,395.

Against this backdrop, the cabinet division in a circular instructed all the divisional commissioners, district commissioners, and the upazila nirbahi officers to enforce health safety rules strictly.

"Recently, the transmission and death rates have increased compared to that of the previous past few months. To check the infection rate, it is necessary to ensure that everyone wears masks and maintains health rules at every sphere," said the circular, signed by Deputy Secretary Shafayat Mahbub Chowdhury.

On the other hand, the health ministry held a meeting with the divisional medical college hospitals yesterday where instructions were given to keep the hospitals ready and ensure high flow oxygen and personal protective equipment there.

The ministry held another meeting with the country's civil surgeons yesterday.

"Directives were given to introduce mobile courts against the health rules violators in all districts. We have asked to impose curbs on gatherings centring social, political, religious and cultural events," Health Minister Zahid Maleque told The Daily Star after the meetings.

He said people's reckless movement without following safety measures was mainly to blame for the surge in Covid-19 cases.

"People have to follow it. Otherwise, the situation will go out of hand," he warned.

He said, "From the discussions, we found that the positivity rate is above 10 percent in Narayanganj, Dhaka, Cumilla and Mymensingh districts. These are the hotspots [of coronavirus infection] and the health officials were asked to find out the reasons."

The minister said they instructed the civil surgeons to enforce the "No Mask No Service" policy strictly.

YOUNG PEOPLE BEING INFECTED MORE

Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), yesterday said most of the new Covid-19 patients were young while most patients needed ICU support.

"With the earlier variant, we have seen that mostly patients with comorbidity contracted Covid-19 but now we are witnessing that young and healthy people are being infected," he said at a programme at 250-bed TB Hospital at Shyamoli in Dhaka.

The health DG said he did not get any request for ICU beds in the last two months for Covid-19 patients but over the last few days, he received numerous calls and the callers alleged that there was a shortage of ICU beds at hospitals.

"Be ready… Prepare all the ICU beds that you have for Covid-19 patients," he asked the TB hospital authority, while also pointing to other hospitals.