The COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first three known cases were reported on 8 March 2020 by the country's epidemiology institute, IEDCR. Since then, the pandemic spread day by day over the whole nation and the number of affected people increased. Bangladesh is the second most affected country in South Asia, after India.
In order to protect the population, the government declared "lockdown" throughout the nation from 23 March to 30 May and prepared some necessary steps to spread awareness to keep this syndrome away from them. Infections remained low until the end of March but saw a steep rise in April.20-fold rise in COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh since April 1 , Dhaka Tribune, 14 April 2020. In the week ending on 11 April, new cases in Bangladesh grew by 1,155 percent, the highest in Asia, ahead of Indonesia, with 186 percent.Mint Covid Tracker: India's corona trajectory has tapered this week but still remains steeper than Asian peers , livemint, 11 April 2020. On 6 May, cases were confirmed in all districts. Rangamati was the last district to report confirmed cases of COVID-19. On 13 June, the number of cases in Bangladesh exceeded the number of cases in China, the country where the outbreak began. Bangladesh reached two grim milestones of 160,000 cases and 2,000 deaths on 5 July and overtook France in terms of the number of cases two days later. The number of recoveries in the country exceeded the number of active cases on 12 July.
Medical experts feared that not enough tests were being conducted. Newspaper reports and social media continued to report about additional deaths of patients with COVID-19 symptoms. Some of the deceased were treated at COVID-19 isolation centres at hospitals in the districts and others were denied treatment, though no tests were conducted to confirm contagion. For a long time, testing was centralised to only Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) in the capital Dhaka, although patients with symptoms were reported all around the country. On 22 March, Bangladesh declared a 10-day shut down effective from 26 March to 4 April. This was later extended to 30 May. Besides, Medical-grade Oxygen has been a concern to look at as the present demand for Oxygen in Bangladesh is around 200 tonnes in a day for medical treatment purposes, which has a significant possibility to elevate at an exponential rate everyday, hence, to meet up the potential needs, Bangladesh is required to ready itself, by establishing a demand forecasting model for Medical-grade Oxygen at the earliest with the coordinated efforts of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE); and Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
A series of hotline numbers, email address and the Facebook page of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) were provided for people to contact if they suspect COVID-19 infection or need more information.
Background
On 31 December 2019, China reported to the WHO cases of pneumonia with unknown causes. On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.
Bangladesh faces significant challenges in combating COVID-19 as it is a densely populated country and also houses a million stateless Rohingya refugees in sprawling refugee camps that are conducive to the spread of epidemics. It also has significant migrant populations living in Italy, a COVID-affected country.Irfan Nooruddin, Rudabeh Shahid, Defusing Bangladesh's COVID-19 time bomb , Atlantic Council, 30 March 2020.10 ICU beds for 1.2 million: COVID-19 catastrophe looms in Cox's Bazar , Reliefweb, 16 April 2020.
Timeline
January 2020 to March 2020: Arrival into Bangladesh On 22 January, the authorities at the Dhaka airport put the airports on alert by screening travellers from China.
On 1 February, a special flight from Bangladesh evacuated 312 Bangladeshi citizens stranded in Wuhan. The evacuees were quarantined for 14 days at the Ashkona Hajj Camp in Dhaka and other locations. None of them tested positive for the coronavirus.
On 8 March, the first three coronavirus cases were confirmed. They included two men that recently returned from Italy and a female relative. On the same day, the government decided to scale down the grand ceremony planned for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birth centenary on 17 March.
On 15 March 142 passengers returned from Italy, who were also taken to the Ashkona Hajj camp. After they complained about the unsanitary conditions there, many of them were allowed to go home with advice to self-isolate. Health experts expressed serious reservations about the action.Shambolic: 142 Italy returnees allowed to go home after day-long mismanagement , The Daily Star, 15 March 2020.
On 18 March, Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death. The patient was aged over 70 and had other morbidities. By the end of March Bangladesh had reported 51 confirmed cases and five deaths.
March 2020 to May 2020: The first wave and "General Holiday" The government imposed "general holiday" (i.e. general lock-down) came into effect on 26 March, it was announced on 23 March and initially stated to be in place until 4 April.
The "general holiday" (lockdown) due to end on 4 April was extended to 11 April, then to 14 April, then to 25 April and then again to 5 May. Bangladesh crossed the figure of 100 confirmed cases on 6 April and 1,000 confirmed cases on 14 April. On 20 April, the number of confirmed deaths crossed 100.
The "general holiday' (lockdown) was extended to May 7, then to May 16 and finally to May 30, with the government announcing on May 27 there will be no further extension. On the topic of easing the lockdown measures, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said "Economic activities have to be resumed for the sake of the lives and livelihoods of people. Most countries of the world have already been compelled to relax shutdown because it is not possible to restrict people's source of income for an indefinite period. And it is not at all possible for a developing country like Bangladesh too."
"General Holiday" On 23 March, when Bangladesh had 33 confirmed cases, the government declared a ten-day nationwide holiday for the period 26 March – 4 April, ordering all public and private offices to be closed, with the exception for emergency services. People have been asked to practice social distancing and stay at home. Public transport would be limited and advice was given to avoid them.Coronavirus outbreak: Govt. orders closure of public, private offices from March 26 to April 4 , The Daily Star, 23 March 2020. The measure has been described as a "lockdown" by the media,Bangladesh Introduces Country-Wide Lockdown, as Factories Already Face 'Indefinite Shutdown' , Sourcing Journal, 25 March 2020.In Pictures: The effects of coronavirus lockdown in Bangladesh , Al Jazeera, 13 April 2020. albeit a "relaxed" one.Ina Ahmed, Shakhawat Liton, 21-day lockdown enough? Cambridge University study says: NO! , Business Standard, 9 April 2020. The government asked the Army to ensure social distancing.Army to enforce social distancing , Business Standard, 23 March 2020. ABC News Australia reported that 290 teams of soldiers were deployed across the country, that streets were empty in the capital Dhaka and the roadside shops were closed. It also said that thousands of people left Dhaka for their home villages.
The "general holiday" (lockdown) was extended several times throughout April and May, until officially ceasing on 30 May 2020. Ending the lockdown appears to have been primarily driven by concerns regarding its economic impact, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying "Economic activities have to be resumed for the sake of the lives and livelihoods of people. Most countries of the world have already been compelled to relax shutdown because it is not possible to restrict people's source of income for an indefinite period. And it is not at all possible for a developing country like Bangladesh too."
On 9 April, Bangladesh imposed a 'complete lockdown' on the Cox's Bazar District where the majority of the Rohingya refugee camps are located. "No entry, no exit – until the situation improves", said the government directive.Coronavirus: Rohingya camps in Bangladesh put under 'complete lockdown' , The Straits Times, 9 April 2020.
June 2020 to December 2020
On 18 June, the number of confirmed cases crossed 100,000 (one lakh) people.
On 18 July, the number of confirmed cases crossed 200,000 (two lakh) people.
The final set of restrictions on public movement were officially lifted on 1 September. These restrictions had included prohibiting movement outdoors from 10 PM to 5 AM (except in case of emergencies), the closure of all shops, bazaars and malls after 8 PM and the prohibition of meetings, rallies and mass gatherings (which had come into effect from 4 August). The Road Transport and Bridges Ministry had also announced on 29 August that the restrictions on buses, which had hitherto directed buses to run below seat capacity and charge higher fares to passengers, would end. A number of health experts expressed their concern at the news. Virologist Dr Nazrul Islam, member of the National Technical Advisory Committee for COVID-19 and former VC of BSMMU, said "the disease transmission rate should be under 5%, but till now the daily positive cases rate is still 15.97% and on Monday it was around 17%. So, it can be said that the time for lifting restrictions has not yet arrived." And Professor Muzaherul Huq, a former adviser of World Health Organization's South East Asia region, told The Daily Star newspaper that "lifting of restrictions from public transport was a risky move ... if the physical distancing is relaxed in public transport, transmission would definitely rise."
December 2020 to March 2021
The period from December 2020 to the end of February 2021 saw the lowest rate of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic. The positivity rates remained below five percent for the first time from mid-January to early March.
The vaccination programme also began in this period. The first vaccinations were given on 27 January 2021 and the mass vaccination roll-out started on 7 February 2021 using the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India. However, as the number of infections rose in India during April 2021, exports of the vaccine were halted leading to a shortfall in stocks in Bangladesh. Bangladesh suspended the first dosing of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from 26 April 2021 due to the supply crunch.
March 2021 to May 2021: The second wave From a relatively low number of infections throughout January and February, March saw a rapid increase in infections - with positivity rates increasing to over 23 percent in early April (whereas they had been below 5 percent throughout February).
In an attempt to curb the rise in infections, on 5 April 2021 a seven-day lockdown was announced by the Bangladeshi government, including all domestic travel suspended and shopping malls shut alongside a curfew between 6pm and 6am. This followed a record new 7,087 new COVID-19 cases on 4 April, coinciding with a near-doubling of their testing rate from mid-March into the start of April. Some protests against this lockdown occurred in Dhaka, while the local media also criticised the lacklustre and inconsistent enforcement of lockdown rules throughout the country. Some schools continued to hold classes during the week.