Over 60% of the respondents of a recent study have said they find it difficult to maintain safe physical distance in public spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic even if they want to as others around them do not follow the rule, study reveals.
The figure was disclosed in a survey conducted by Brac and the Prothom Alo in association with Lifebuoy, according to a media briefing on Thursday.
The survey was conducted on people wearing masks, maintaining hygiene rules and social distancing practices.
According to the survey, 67.4% of the people said wearing masks causes discomfort and heat stress while 20.9% of the people mentioned stuffiness and difficulty in breathing while wearing masks.
Mushtaq Hossain, former chief scientific officer, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said: “Coronavirus was first detected in our country in March and now it’s August when it is not possible for us to sit at home anymore. We have to run our daily life while maintaining reasonable behaviour and taking effective measures.”
“The public awareness campaign with messages about health safety needs to continue. Hand washing stands with soap and water should be placed where it is necessary, while adequate diagnosis and quarantine facilities have to be ensured,” he added.
Prothom Alo Special Correspondent Shishir Moral said: “The general public are not taking this danger quite seriously. Lack of rigorous surveillance of the situation may bring much more suffering than we have experienced till now.”
In the survey, 38.4% of the people said forgetfulness is the biggest hurdle in washing their hands regularly.
While 72.6% of the people viewed regular hand washing as beneficial, 6.1% of the people said they simply can't remember to wash their hands, according to the survey.
In responses to a question on how masks can reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19, 5.4% of the people said they did not simply believe that masks can reduce the risk of Covid-19.
However, 85.2% of the people said wearing masks properly helps prevent respiratory droplets of sneeze and cough carrying the virus from travelling into the air and 8.7% maintained that masks prevent contaminated air from entering the lungs.
BRAC Associate Director Dr Morseda Chowdhury said: “BRAC has stood by the people of Bangladesh with its army of staff since the pandemic broke out. We have been working across the country with holistic measures comprising a mass campaign for personal health safety measures to raise public awareness, food and cash assistance for the poor and unemployed households, and other activities.”
A total of 320,071 responses were received in the online opinion survey that was conducted from July 31 to August 18.