An Extensive Review of Health and Economy of Bangladesh Amid Covid-19 Pandemic by Abdul Kader Mohiuddin in Open Access Journal of Biogeneric Science and Research
Abstract
COVID-19 has affected 212 countries around the world, killing more than 287,000 and infecting more than 4.2 million by May 12, 2020. Bangladesh, a South Asian low-middle-income economy, has experienced a demographic and epidemiological transition with rapid urbanization and a gradual increase in life expectancy. It is the seventh most populous country in the world and population of the country is expected to be nearly double by 2050. The increasing burden of communicable diseases in Bangladesh can be attributable to rapid urbanization and nearly 50% of all slum dwellers of the country live in Dhaka division. In 2017, National Rapid Response Team of IEDCR investigated 26 incidents of disease outbreak. The joint survey of the Power and Participation Research Centre and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development reveals that per capita daily income of urban slum and rural poor drops by 80% due to present countrywide shutdown enforced by the government to halt the spread of Covid-19. 40%-50% of these population took loans to meet the daily expenses. However, the country has just 127,000 hospital beds, 91,000 of them in government-run hospitals.
Keywords: Covid-19 Lockdown; Shortage of PPEs; Global Pandemic Crisis; Incentives for Officials at Risk
Abbreviations: IEDCR: Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research; BRAC: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
Introduction
Notwithstanding the depressing state of major indicators such as negative export-import growth [1-4]; significant revenue drop [5-8]; shrinking private sector investment [9-12]; rising un-performing loans documented in 2019 [13-16]. Bangladesh’s government was optimistic that somehow the depressing trend of these indicators might be reversed. But this optimism has now been seriously dented with the severe onslaught of Covid-19. The decline in national and global demand for manufactured goods, particularly in the garment sector, risks creating unemployment and deepen poverty. The urban poor will be hardest hit while the number of additional poor will be higher in rural areas. The IEDCR was Bangladesh’s only Institute with testing facilities for COVID-19 until March 26, when a second facility was granted testing rights. Centralized testing has not yet been able to respond effectively to the wave of suspected COVID-19 patients in these under-resourced public institutions. Amidst this global crisis, Bangladesh has been identified as one of the 25 most vulnerable countries to be affected by the fast-spreading virus [17,18]. By 25. 04. 2020, it was confirmed in 63 out of 64 districts (Figure 1) [19].
The combined capacity of 19 corona testing laboratories is around 5,000 samples per day, but in the last few days, authorities have conducted only 2,100 tests. Unwillingness of the authorities concerned and bureaucratic complexities have indicated that the availability of a kit delays the detection of the novel coronavirus infection. Moreover, the government in Bangladesh has not so far sought to proactively limit transmission from primary cases to community.
COVID-19 has affected 212 countries around the world, killing more than 287,000 and infecting more than 4.2 million by May 12, 2020. Bangladesh, a South Asian low-middle-income economy, has experienced a demographic and epidemiological transition with rapid urbanization and a gradual increase in life expectancy. It is the seventh most populous country in the world and population of the country is expected to be nearly double by 2050. The increasing burden of communicable diseases in Bangladesh can be attributable to rapid urbanization and nearly 50% of all slum dwellers of the country live in Dhaka division. In 2017, National Rapid Response Team of IEDCR investigated 26 incidents of disease outbreak. The joint survey of the Power and Participation Research Centre and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development reveals that per capita daily income of urban slum and rural poor drops by 80% due to present countrywide shutdown enforced by the government to halt the spread of Covid-19. 40%-50% of these population took loans to meet the daily expenses. However, the country has just 127,000 hospital beds, 91,000 of them in government-run hospitals.
Keywords: Covid-19 Lockdown; Shortage of PPEs; Global Pandemic Crisis; Incentives for Officials at Risk
Abbreviations: IEDCR: Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research; BRAC: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
Introduction
Notwithstanding the depressing state of major indicators such as negative export-import growth [1-4]; significant revenue drop [5-8]; shrinking private sector investment [9-12]; rising un-performing loans documented in 2019 [13-16]. Bangladesh’s government was optimistic that somehow the depressing trend of these indicators might be reversed. But this optimism has now been seriously dented with the severe onslaught of Covid-19. The decline in national and global demand for manufactured goods, particularly in the garment sector, risks creating unemployment and deepen poverty. The urban poor will be hardest hit while the number of additional poor will be higher in rural areas. The IEDCR was Bangladesh’s only Institute with testing facilities for COVID-19 until March 26, when a second facility was granted testing rights. Centralized testing has not yet been able to respond effectively to the wave of suspected COVID-19 patients in these under-resourced public institutions. Amidst this global crisis, Bangladesh has been identified as one of the 25 most vulnerable countries to be affected by the fast-spreading virus [17,18]. By 25. 04. 2020, it was confirmed in 63 out of 64 districts (Figure 1) [19].
The combined capacity of 19 corona testing laboratories is around 5,000 samples per day, but in the last few days, authorities have conducted only 2,100 tests. Unwillingness of the authorities concerned and bureaucratic complexities have indicated that the availability of a kit delays the detection of the novel coronavirus infection. Moreover, the government in Bangladesh has not so far sought to proactively limit transmission from primary cases to community.
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