- Nayadiganta English Desk 21 March 2020
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday suggested that Bangladesh can go for a social-distancing measure like partial or complete lockdown of the country to effectively combat the coronavirus.
A WHO team, led by its representative to Bangladesh Dr Bardan Jung Rana, gave the suggestion during a meeting with Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon at his Banani residence, UNB reports.
Talking to UNB, Khokon said WHO thinks the coronavirus situation in Bangladesh may take a serious turn in the days to come if urgent actions are not taken.
“The WHO delegation told us that some coronavirus-affected countries have chosen partial or complete lockdown or state of emergency to tackle the situation. All of them got good results as the number of fresh cases has dropped drastically in those countries after taking such steps,” he said.
The DSCC mayor said the WHO thinks such a measure of social distancing can be effective in Bangladesh to overcome the coronavirus, but it is a matter of policy decision.
He said they wanted to know from the WHO team about how to deal with the corona patients by the health service providers. “They briefed us about it elaborately.”
The mayor said the government is taking all the necessary measures to prevent the corona outbreak, but the citizens also must be alert and cooperate with the government in this regard.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Zahid Maleque confirmed the second death from coronavirus in the country.
He also said four more people were diagnosed with coronavirus in the country, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 24.
The minister said 50 people are in institutional quarantine and around 14,000 people are home-quarantined across the country,” he said.
Bangladesh reported the country’s first death from coronavirus on March 18.
On March 8, the IEDCR announced for the first time the detection of three Covid-19 patients in Bangladesh.