Dangers lie ahead if people ignore health guidelines

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) chief Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam has said most of the people being infected with Covid-19 now, are youths.

“And, a number of youths are undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit,” he told the media after attending a workshop at Shyamoli 250 bedded TB Hospital in Dhaka on Sunday.

He said: “As we were in relief in the past two months, we are not following any health guidelines now.”

The director-general of DGHS warned that dangers lie ahead of the country if people continue to ignore the guidelines.

Bangladesh is witnessing a sudden surge in coronavirus cases while experts said it could be the start of a second wave in the country. 

It was on January 10 when the country last recorded a higher single-day caseload above the 1,000 marks (1,071 cases). Since then, the number remained below the mark.

On March 10, the country registered 1,018 cases and reported over 1,000 infections for the next three days. 

Dr Khurshid Alam said the health authorities, meanwhile, ordered all the hospitals in the country to get prepared for tackling the second wave of the deadly disease.

He reminded that the second wave of the Spanish flu claimed more lives than its first wave.

The health directorate chief said the Ministry of Public Administration has already instructed all the local administrations to strengthen the issue of compliance with health rules.

Asked, if the new Covid-19 variants detected in South Africa and the UK led to an increase in infections in Bangladesh, he said the matter is being looked into through genome sequencing.

Khurshid said the next consignment of purchased coronavirus vaccine will reach the country very soon.

He, however, urged the people not to be indifferent about the health rules after taking jabs.

Stressing the importance of following the health rules, Khurshid said immunity against the disease is not induced in that way after receiving the first shot while it is still unknown to all that how long the immunity will last even after taking the second shot. 

As of Saturday, Bangladesh has so far recorded 8,527 deaths and 556,236 cases from Covid-19, a pandemic announced by the World Health Organization (WHO).

So far, 4,304,259 people have taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine since the mass vaccination began in Bangladesh on February 7.