Bangladesh sees highest rise in COVID deaths, cases in lockdown week 

Bangladesh has reported 47,518 new coronavirus cases with 504 deaths from Apr 5 to Apr 11, the highest weekly rise in both numbers when the country was in a lockdown to stem the surging outbreak. 

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 April 2021, 08:22 PM
Updated : 12 April 2021, 08:22 PM

Now it is set to enter a new weeklong shutdown with stricter rules on Wednesday after easing some restrictions in the first lockdown following protests and demands from several quarters.

Public health experts do not agree to call the restrictions imposed from Apr 5 a lockdown because everything was more or less open.

“It was not a lockdown in reality. Only some vehicles were barred for a few days. Shopping, gathering on streets, office work continued,” said Professor Dr ABM Abdullah, a former dean of the medicine faculty at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Public health expert Dr Mushtuq Husain believes two more weeks will be needed to see the results of the restrictions.

“The rise in cases we see now is the result of activities of two weeks ago. The deaths now are from the three-week old infections. We will need to wait two more weeks to see the trend in mortality rate,” he said.

Bangladesh recorded the first COVID-19 death on Mar 18 last year, 10 days after the detection of the first cases.

The deaths began rising afterwards and hit 64 in the daily count on Jun 30, the highest in 2020.

The outbreak eased gradually and the number of deaths dropped to as low as five in the beginning of March this year.

Then came the second wave, setting new records in death counts. A study revealed that the more contagious and deadly coronavirus variant, first detected in South Africa, dominated the cases from mid-March.    

Among the fatal victims of the disease in the week to Apr 11, as much as 61 percent were above 60 years old. And 55 percent of the dead patients were from Dhaka.

Families take COVID-19 patients to Mugda General Hospital in Dhaka on Saturday, Apr 10, 2021 amid a record surge in coronavirus cases. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

In the 24 hours to 8am on Monday, the government reported 83 deaths from COVID-19, the highest in a day as the tally of cases surged by 7,201.

Dr Abdullah, the personal physician of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said a lockdown like a curfew is required to prevent the situation from worsening.

“There won’t be any benefit if we can’t stop the movement of people,” he said, blaming negligence in following the health rules for the resurgence of the coronavirus.

Dr Mushtuq, who advises the government on COVID-19, said the authorities need to involve people in the process of enforcing the restrictions.

“Institutional and area-based steps are needed to involve people,” he said, suggesting more activities by public representatives.