DOCSLIB.ORG

Adolescence in the Time of COVID19-Evidence Form Bangladesh

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Adolescence in the Time of COVID19-Evidence Form Bangladesh POLICY BRIEF NOVEMBER 2020 ADOLESCENCE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19: EVIDENCE FROM BANGLADESH Sarah Baird1, Jennifer Seager2, Shwetlena Sabarwal3, Silvia Guglielmi4, and Maheen Sultan5 SUMMARY This note examines the effects of COVID-19 and subsequent economic and educational disruptions on adolescent well-being in Bangladesh. The analysis is based on data from 2,095 in-school adolescents aged 10–18 collected pre- COVID-19 (February–March 2020) through a field survey for an ongoing impact evaluation, and a follow-up virtual survey undertaken early in the pandemic (May–June 2020). Findings show large household-level economic impacts associated with increased food insecurity, anxiety, and mental health issues among adolescents. In addition, school closures have decreased adolescents’ access to learning, increased time spent on household chores, and affected future job aspirations. The impacts are particularly large for girls and for adolescents from more vulnerable households. Policy makers need to consider policies that facilitate school return, targeting girls and the most vulnerable. They also need creative school-based programming to address the likely long-run physical and mental health effects of COVID-19 on young people. BACKGROUND COVID-19 has rapidly disrupted lives across the globe, likely resulting in multidimensional effects on young people’s well- data collected before 2,095 in-school being in the short- and long-run. This is particularly the case for and after COVID-19 adolescents aged education. School closures related to COVID-19 will not only have 10–18 immediate direct effects on learning outcomes; they may also identified foster sustained impacts on education, labor market outcomes, food insecurity, anxiety, multidimensional and mental health issues and broader welfare (Rogers and Sabarwal 2020). In Bangladesh, impacts on families where higher secondary school dropout rates for girls are at least partially driven by social and cultural constraints—including early marriage, household responsibilities, lack of access to appropriate with serious adverse decreased access to learning, information about sexual and reproductive health, mental health effects on adolescents increased time spent on chores, issues, and school-based violence that includes sexual harassment due to school closures and affected job aspirations (Sosale, Asaduzzaman, and Ramachandran 2019)—the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undermine many of the recent gains in girl’s education and to stunt further progress (see Box 1 for more on COVID-19 in Bangladesh). necessitating innovative remote learning targeted policies methods, re-enrollment campaigns, While the government has aired video classes for grades 6 to 10 and interventions nutrition and counseling programs, on its Shangsad TV channel, uptake has been low (Asadullah 2020; training for teachers Biswas et al. 2020). Consequently, the education of school-goers 1George Washington University and GAGE, 2George Washington University and GAGE, 3The World Bank, 4GAGE, and 5BRAC Institute of Governance and Development and GAGE. has been left largely to the discretion of students and their parents. Preliminary global evidence suggests that adolescents who were enrolled in school when the pandemic hit may now BOX 1: COVID-19 IN BANGLADESH engage in paid work to supplement family income, take on larger After identifying the first cases of COVID-19 roles in the household, become pregnant, or face pressure to in the country on March 8, the government marry, all factors that will constrain school return when the implemented restrictions on mobility and schools reopen (Mendez Acosta and Evans 2020). The expected social gatherings to control the spread of the gendered impact of school closures echoes previous evidence virus. By March 17, when the country had eight from crises, which highlights increased burden of care-work for confirmed cases, the government declared a women, disruptions in access to sexual and reproductive health school closure that ultimately remained in place services, and increases in domestic violence for women and throughout the current academic year. By March girls (Smith 2019, Peterman et al. 2020, Wenham et al. 2020). 24, the government declared a 10-day nationwide In addition to school closures, the large negative economic lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19. This shock experienced by most households (Genoni et al. 2020) lockdown was extended through May 30. may worsen the education impacts of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. COVID-19 Survey administration by Gender and These economic impacts threaten food security, which is Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) began in particularly important for adolescents and may be acutely felt early May 2020, when Bangladesh had identified in Bangladesh, where 25 percent of the population was food approximately 12,000 cases of COVID-19. During insecure and 36 percent of children under-five were stunted the survey administration period, which ended on even before COVID-19 (Alderman et al. 2006, Frankenberg et June 28, 2020, this number jumped to 137,787 al. 2017, Arndt et al. 2020, Bene 2020, USAID 2020). Moreover, cases.1 As of October 8, 2020, Bangladesh had the current crisis is likely to heighten risks for mental distress, reported 374,592 cases and 5,460 deaths from further affecting future trajectories in education and labor COVID-19. In response, the government has (Golberstein, Gonzales, and Meara 2019). Given that half of all repeatedly extended school closures through the mental illnesses begin by age 14 (WHO 2020, Kessler 2007), the end of October as case counts continue rising.2 COVID-19 pandemic is on the verge of creating a global mental health crisis among youth (Fegert et al. 2020). Notes: (1) Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, October 8, 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html. (2) Menon, S. Coronavirus: How the lockdown has changed schooling This brief explores the impact of COVID-19 on the well-being of in South Asia. BBC News, September 21, 2020. https://www.bbc. adolescents in Bangladesh who were attending grades seven com/news/world-south-asia-54009306 and eight in Chittagong and Sylhet at the time of the school closures and explores heterogeneity of impacts according to gender and the vulnerability status of the household. all adolescents surveyed during the first round, using phone DATA AND METHODOLOGY numbers obtained during the first round of data collection and were able to reach 2,156 of the original adolescents, This brief uses two rounds of data on over 2,000 adolescents a 97 percent recontact rate.3 The respondents were asked and their female primary caregivers collected as part of the questions related to the economic effects of the shock at Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) study implemented with support from the South Asia Gender 1 This research obtained ethnical clearance from the Innovations for Poverty Action Innovation Lab (SAR GIL).1 The first round of data collection Institutional Review Board (#15439) and the George Washington University Office of Human Research – Institutional Review Board (#071721). took place during February and March of 2020 through face- 2 Monthly Pay Order (MPO) schools are private schools that receive funding for payroll to-face interviews with a random sample of adolescents from the government of Bangladesh and follow the official government curriculum. The data collected was planned to survey a random sample of 4,932 adolescents across a attending grades seven and eight in public and semi- representative sample of 251 schools (160 MPO schools and 91 government schools). The private (Monthly Pay Order, or MPO) schools in Chittagong schools were randomly selected from a full list of both school types operating in each division provided by the Bangladesh Ministry of Education. Data collection was interrupted on March 2 and Sylhet divisions. The first round was a baseline for an 18, 2020, when schools were closed as part of a broader government shutdown, when data had been collected from 45 percent of the intended sample. See Seager et al. (2020) for ongoing impact evaluation, with programming supported detail on the sample and survey instruments. by the World Bank. The second round of data collection was 3 Phone penetration is high among the sample; 98.9 percent of adolescents in the sample live in households with at least one cell phone. conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviewing 4 For the full survey instrument: https://www.gage.odi.org/publication/covid-19-phone- in May and June 2020. Enumerators attempted to recontact survey-round-1/ 2 | POLICY BRIEF the household level, as well as on various dimensions of adolescent well-being.4 BOX 2: OUTCOME MEASURES Specifically, this brief uses data for 2,095 adolescents and their primary female caregivers who responded to all items Household Income and Food Security used to generate a measure of household vulnerability that • Household lost at least some income due to COVID we use to understand the impact of COVID-19 on more • Household was able to buy essential food items vulnerable households.5 It also draws on in-depth qualitative over the past 7 days data gathered from 39 adolescents, selected from the • Household cut back quantities served per meal to quantitative sample, during July and September 2020. At adolescents in the household during last 4 weeks the time of the baseline survey, adolescents were 12.8 years • Dietary diversity reduction score (0-16 old on average, 49.8 percent were in seventh grade with the The total number of food groups in which rest in eighth grade. Seventy-five percent of our sample is in food consumption was reported to have Chittagong with the rest in Sylhet and 25 percent attended been reduced post-COVID-19 across 16 food a government school compared to 75 percent in an MPO categories, as reported by the adult female school before COVID-19. primary caregiver • Adolescent reports that meals are less likely to We examine the impact of COVID-19 on earnings and food contain meat, chicken, fish, or eggs compared to security of the households these adolescents live in, and on before COVID-19 their education, future job aspirations, and mental health.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Insights Into the First Seven-Months of COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh: Lessons Learned from a High-Risk Country
    Insights Into the First Seven-months of COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh: Lessons Learned from a High-risk Country Md. Hasanul Banna Siam Biomedical Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh Md.Mahbub Hasan Biomedical Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh Shazed Mohammad Tashrif National University of Singapore - Kent Ridge Campus: National University of Singapore Md. Hasinur Rahaman Khan University of Dhaka: Dhaka University Enayetur Raheem Biomedical Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh Mohammad Sorowar Hossain ( [email protected] ) Biomedical Research Foundation https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7143-2909 Research Article Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Epidemiology, SARS-CoV2 Posted Date: October 13th, 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-89387/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Version of Record: A version of this preprint was published at Heliyon on June 1st, 2021. See the published version at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07385. Page 1/21 Abstract Background South Asian countries including Bangladesh have been struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic despite imposing months of lockdown and other public health measures. In-depth epidemiological information from these countries is lacking. From the perspective of Bangladesh, this study aims at understanding the epidemiological features and gaps in public health preparedness and risk communication. Methods The study used publicly available data of seven months (8 March 2020–10 September 2020) from the respective health departments of Bangladesh and Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre. Human mobility data were obtained from Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports. Spatial distribution maps were created using ArcGIS Desktop.
    [Show full text]
  • Freemuse-Drik-PEN-International
    Joint submission to the mid-term Universal Periodic Review of Bangladesh by Freemuse, Drik, and PEN International 4 December 2020 Executive summary Freemuse, Drik, and PEN International welcome the opportunity to contribute to the mid-term review of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Bangladesh. This submission evaluates the implementation of recommendations made in the previous UPR and assesses the Bangladeshi authorities’ compliance with international human rights obligations with respect to freedoms of expression, information and peaceful assembly, in particular concerns related to: - Digital Security Act and Information and Communication Technology Act - Limitations on freedom of religion and belief - Restrictions to the right to peaceful assembly and political engagement - Attacks on artistic freedom and academic freedom As part of the third cycle UPR process in 2018, the Government of Bangladesh accepted 178 recommendations and noted 73 out of a total 251 recommendations received. This included some aimed at guaranteeing the rights to freedom of expression, information and peaceful assembly. However, a crackdown on freedom of expression has been intensified since the review and civil society, including artists and journalists, has faced adversity from authorities. These are in violation of Bangladesh’s national and international commitments to artistic freedom, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which were ratified by the authorities in 2000 and 1998, respectively. This UPR mid-term review was compiled based on information from Freemuse, Drik and PEN International. 1 SECTION A Digital Security Act: a threat to freedom of expression Third Cycle UPR Recommendations The Government of Bangladesh accepted recommendations 147.67, 147.69, 147.70, 148.3, 148.13, 148.14, and 148.15 concerning the Information and Communication Technology Act and Digital Security Act.
    [Show full text]
  • Asian Development Outlook Supplement June 2020
    ASIAN DEVELOPMENT OUTLOOK SUPPLEMENT JUNE 2020 HIGHLIGHTS LOCKDOWN, LOOSENING, AND Developing Asia will barely grow in 2020, the 0.1% forecast in this ASIA’S GROWTH PROSPECTS Supplement is a further downward revision from 2.2% projected in April in Asian Development Outlook 2020 and the region’s slowest growth rate in 6 decades. From this low base, growth will Recent developments pick up to 6.2% in 2021. Excluding Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has continued to spread, and containment newly industrialized economies, measures have greatly disrupted economic activity. In the 2 months since Asian regional growth is forecast at 0.4% Development Outlook 2020 was released on 3 April, the number of COVID-19 in 2020 and 6.6% in 2021. cases worldwide has risen from less than 1 million to over 7 million by 12 June, Growth prospects for East Asia in with developing Asia accounting for 10.7% of the total (Figure 1). Domestic 2020 are downgraded from 2.0% to outbreaks have occurred in more economies in the region, with 21 of the 46 1.3%. This reflects expansion in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) developing member economies recording more People’s Republic of China by only than 1,000 cases each. In response, many governments have imposed lockdowns 1.8% in 2020, rebounding to 7.4% in of varying stringency and duration, with average stringency higher in South and 2021 and lifting subregional growth Central Asia and lower in East Asia (Figure 2). Many economies are now starting to 6.8%. to exit their lockdowns.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19, Climate Change and Challenges: Bangladesh Perspective to Fight Against the Pandemic Condition
    International Journal of Research and Innovation In Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume IV, Issue X, October 2020|ISSN 2454-6186 COVID-19, Climate Change and Challenges: Bangladesh Perspective to Fight against the Pandemic Condition Abu Taher Muhammad Abdullah1, Israt Jahan2 1Additonal Superintendent of Police, District Police, Thakurgaon, Bangladesh, Studied MA Criminology, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, UK 2MA Digital Media, School of Computing and Digital Media, London Metropolitan University, UK Abstract: This study investigated the impacts of COVID-19 and societies to a great extent (Mende and Misra, 2020). Global climate change, and the challenges of these events from responses to fight COVID-19 have ameliorated climate Bangladesh’s perspective with the qualitative method of change parameters-emissions, air, or water quality. But global research. Thematic analysis followed for synthesizing data climate change expedites the effects of COVID-19 in a way collected from secondary sources. The total number of deaths where public and environmental health are intertwined, and found in Bangladesh 4,881 (1.4%), whereas 943,433 (4%) deaths found globally from COVID-19 disease. The highest number of this connects from the vulnerable to the wealthy. As this deaths in a day was 64 in Bangladesh on 30th June 2020. The infectious disease is zoonotic-spread from animal to human- maximum rate of confirmed cases from COVID-19 infection was COVID-19 demonstrates its severity (Jones et al., 2020). 26.7% in people between 31-40 years of age group. Whether male However, this pandemic creates an opportunity to learn and to represented more confirmed cases (M=72%, F=28%) and deaths mitigate future calamities by recognizing the correlation (M=78%, F=22%) than female.
    [Show full text]
  • Change Point Modeling of COVID-19 Transmission in Bangladesh
    ISSN: 2577 - 8005 Research article Medical & Clinical Research Change Point Modeling of COVID-19 Transmission in Bangladesh Brijesh P Singh*1, Tapan K Roy2 and Aalok Ranjan Chaurasia3 1Department of Statistics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu *Corresponding author University, Varanasi, India Brijesh P Singh, Department of Statistics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India 2Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh Submitted: 18 Dec 2020; Accepted: 24 Dec 2020; Published: 31 Dec 2020 3Aalok Ranjan Chaurasia, MLC Foundation, 51, Lake City Farms (Ganesh Puri), Kalkheda Road, Neelbad, Bhopal, India Abstract Background: COVID-19 pandemic is recognized as a significant threat to human health in 2020 in Bangladesh. Without emergence of effective medicine and vaccine it is very difficult to control the transmission of the COVID-19. Thus, identifying and monitoring the trajectory in the COVID-19 pandemic continuously is very important to assess the action taken to contain this pandemic and to have a further decision. Methods and Material: In this context, this study tries to find out the trend of daily reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. The 174 days’ daily data have been taken from the website of worldometer Bangladesh from 10 March to 30 August, 2020 for the analysis. To analyze the trends and to identify significant changes in trends joinpoint regression analysis has been used. Results: The number of cases increased by the rate of 4.98 percent per day in Bangladesh, however, from 11th June to 30th August i.e. for 81 days, the growth rate is found negative means we observed a decline in the COVID-19 cases per day with the rate of -0.6 percent.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessment of the Catastrophic Asia Floods and Potentially Affected
    remote sensing Brief Report Assessment of the Catastrophic Asia Floods and Potentially Affected Population in Summer 2020 Using VIIRS Flood Products Sanmei Li 1, Mitchell D. Goldberg 2, William Sjoberg 2, Lihang Zhou 2 , Sreela Nandi 2, Nazmi Chowdhury 2, William Straka III 3, Tianshu Yang 1 and Donglian Sun 1,* 1 Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA; [email protected] (S.L.); [email protected] (T.Y.) 2 NOAA JPSS Program Office, Lanham, MD 20706, USA; [email protected] (M.D.G.); [email protected] (W.S.); [email protected] (L.Z.); [email protected] (S.N.); [email protected] (N.C.) 3 Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 20740, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-703-993-4736 Received: 25 August 2020; Accepted: 24 September 2020; Published: 28 September 2020 Abstract: Since 2 June 2020, unusual heavy and continuous rainfall from the Asian summer monsoon rainy season caused widespread catastrophic floods in many Asian countries, including primarily the two most populated countries, China and India. To detect and monitor the floods and estimate the potentially affected population, data from sensors aboard the operational polar-orbiting satellites Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-20 were used. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with a spatial resolution of 375 m available twice per day aboard these two satellites can observe floodwaters over large spatial regions. The flood maps derived from the VIIRS imagery provide a big picture over the entire flooding regions, and demonstrate that, in July, in China, floods mainly occurred across the Yangtze River, Hui River and their tributaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Initial COVID-19 Responses in Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Uganda: Documentation and Learning from March to May 2020
    Initial COVID-19 responses in Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Uganda: Documentation and learning from March to May 2020 COVID-19 Series: Synthesis Report Debbie Hillier, Tom Newton-Lewis, Rithika Nair, and Christoph Larsen July 2020 Initial COVID-19 responses in Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Uganda About Maintains This five-year (2018–2023) operational research programme is building a strong evidence base on how health, education, nutrition, and social protection systems can respond more quickly, reliably, and effectively to changing needs during and after shocks, whilst also maintaining existing services. Maintains is working in six focal countries—Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Uganda—undertaking research to build evidence and providing technical assistance to support practical implementation. Lessons from this work will be used to inform policy and practice at both national and global levels. Maintains is funded with UK aid from the UK government; however, the views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies. Acknowledgments The authors appreciate the immense contribution and input from Syed Zulfiqar Ali, Akaco Ekirapa, Kevin Grieco, Shah Monir Hossain, Rumana Huque, Niccolo Meriggi, and Yasmina Yusuf, who provided detailed country-based reports that have fed into this synthesis report. We also recognise their work, and that of many others, in reviewing and strengthening drafts. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the financial and technical support from DFID. Contacts [email protected] www.maintainsprogramme.org @MaintainsProg www.linkedin.com/company/maintains/ Maintains is implemented through a consortium led by Oxford Policy Management Limited as the managing agent.
    [Show full text]
  • HIV/AIDS Acquisition and Transmission in Bangladesh: Turning to the Concentrated Epidemic Md
    Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 62, 111-119, 2009 Original Article HIV/AIDS Acquisition and Transmission in Bangladesh: Turning to the Concentrated Epidemic Md. Nazrul Islam Mondal*, Hiroshi Takaku, Yasushi Ohkusa1, Tamie Sugawara1, and Nobuhiko Okabe1 Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and High Technology Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba 275-0016, and 1Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan (Received July 9, 2008. Accepted January 13, 2009) SUMMARY: A seventh round behavioral and serological surveillance found that the HIV epidemic had remark- ably increased to 7% among intravenous drug users (IDU) in Central Bangladesh, indicating the urgent need to increase prevention. The main purposes of this study were to find out, by collecting data and the necessary information from sero-surveillances, published reports, and articles, what the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is, and what the acquisition and transmission routes are. In addition, trends in HIV-related risk behaviors among recog- nized high risk groups were observed, and estimations and projections of HIV transmission up to the year 2020 presented. The Estimation and Projection Package was used to estimate and project HIV transmission. The study results reveal that Bangladesh is a low prevalence country which is turning into one with a concentrated epidemic due to the high HIV prevalence rate of IDU (7%) among the most-at-risk groups. Within this at-risk population, IDU have the highest prevalence rate of HIV transmission, followed by female sex workers, clients of sex workers, and men who have sex with men. If the transmission rate continues to increase, the situation will be uncontrolled.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Media Rumors in Bangladesh
    JISTaP http://www.jistap.org Research Paper Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice J Inf Sci Theory Pract 8(3): 77-90, 2020 eISSN : 2287-4577 pISSN : 2287-9099 https://doi.org/10.1633/JISTaP.2020.8.3.6 Social Media Rumors in Bangladesh Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman* Sifat Al Sife Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Musfika Sultana Mahbuba Akbar Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Kazi Taznahel Sultana Ahona Nandita Sarkar Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This study analyzes N=181 social media rumors from Bangladesh to find out the most popular themes, sources, and aims. The result shows that social media rumors have seven popular themes: political, health & education, crime & human rights, religious, religiopolitical, entertainment, and other. Also, online media and mainstream media are the two main sources of social media rumors, along with three tentative aims: positive, negative, and unknown. A few major findings of this research are: Political rumors dominate social media, but its percentage is decreasing, while religion-related rumors are increasing; most of the social media rumors are negative and emerge from online media, and social media itself is the dominant online source of social media rumors; and, most of the health-related rumors are negative and surge during a crisis period, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
    [Show full text]
  • Epidemiological Information About COVID-19 Outbreak in Bangladesh: a Descriptive Study
    EAS Journal of Parasitology and Infectious Diseases Abbreviated Key Title: EAS J Parasitol Infect Dis ISSN: 2663-0982 (Print) & ISSN: 2663-6727 (Online) Published By East African Scholars Publisher, Kenya Volume-2 | Issue-4 |July-Aug 2020 | DOI: 10.36349/EASJPID.2020.v02i04.001 Research Article Epidemiological Information about COVID-19 Outbreak in Bangladesh: A Descriptive Study Abdullah Al Mamun*1, Md. Sohel1, Majharul Islam1, Mst. Mahmuda Khatun1, Suraiya Aktar2, Ashekul Islam1, Khairul Islam1 & Md Masuder Rahman3 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Santosh, Tangail-1902, Bangladesh 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh 3Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Santosh, Tangail-1902, Bangladesh Abstract: COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, first emerged in Wuhan, China, on Article History December 2019. Subsequently, it has spread rapidly around the globe with severe public Received: 30.06.2020 health burden. The authentic epidemiological information is important to guide public Accepted: 18.07.2020 Published: 30.07.2020 health decision-making. However, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID- 19 patients in Bangladesh have not well documented. In this critical situation, we aimed to Journal homepage: accumulate the epidemiological features of COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh. All the https://www.easpublisher.com/easjpid information of COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh were accumulated from national and international sources as of June 24, 2020. Extracted data were categorized according to Quick Response Code potential epidemiologic parameters. A total of 1,22,660 confirmed cases and 49,666 recoveries were recorded until 24 June 2020 in Bangladesh.
    [Show full text]
  • Battling the COVID-19 Pandemic: Is Bangladesh Prepared?
    medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.29.20084236; this version posted May 12, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license . Battling the COVID-19 Pandemic: Is Bangladesh Prepared? Running Title: Battling the COVID-19 Pandemic Md Hasinur Rahaman Khan, PhD1 Institute of Statistical Research and Training University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh and Tamanna Howlader, PhD Institute of Statistical Research and Training University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh and Md. Mazharul Islam Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh Abstract Following detection of the first few COVID-19 cases in early March, Bangladesh has stepped up its efforts to strengthen capacity of the healthcare system to avert a crisis in the event of a surge in the number of cases. This paper sheds light on the preparedness of the healthcare system by examining the spatial distribution of isolation beds across districts and divisions, forecasting the number of ICU units that may be required in the short term and analyzing the availability of frontline healthcare workers to combat the pandemic. As of May 2, COVID-19 cases have been found in 61 of the 64 districts in Bangladesh with Dhaka District being the epicenter. Seventy-one percent of the cases have been identified in 6 neighboring districts, namely, Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Narsingdi, Munsiganj and Kishoreganj, which appear to form a spatial cluster.
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 in Bangladesh: How the Awami League Transformed a Crisis Into a Disaster
    Volume 18 | Issue 15 | Number 10 | Article ID 5444 | Aug 01, 2020 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus COVID-19 in Bangladesh: How the Awami League Transformed a Crisis into a Disaster Ikhtisad Ahmed public relations extravaganza suits autocrats Abstract: In the case of Bangladesh, COVID-19 like Rahman’s daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh has laid bare the shortcomings of the state, Hasina. The 2018 re-election campaign underscoring the complicity of the military, platform of the Awami League declared that it elite class, Islamists and intelligentsia in the was the only party that could guarantee government’s dysfunctional, apathetic, and Bangladesh’s history was properly respected, authoritarian approach. This essay breaks citing these upcoming celebrations as evidence down the Bangladeshi government’s response of its commitment to doing so. Although the along three key lines: the first to examine the rigged election denied the Awami League the legal basis for its response to the pandemic, the veneer of democratic legitimacy, it was hoped second the exploitation of labour rights and that the nationalist pageantry would provide a how it affects public image, and third the positive limelight. Taxpayers would provide suppression of freedoms of speech andmuch of the funding for the two-year expression. Through discussion of these key saturnalia, supplemented by large donations tenets, this essay provides a comprehensive from cronies who have done well from their indictment of how Bangladesh is turning a connections to the Awami League. But things crisis into a disaster. did not go according to plan. In Bangladesh, the emperor unquestionably has the best clothes.
    [Show full text]