The month of February saw a steady decline in the number of Covid-19 cases as well as the number of deaths caused by the infectious disease.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGSH), 144,744 cases were recorded in February—an average of 5,169 cases per day.
The first week saw 72,068 cases, while the second, third and final week saw 43,455, 20,866 and 8,335 cases, in that order.
The daily infection rate also decreased steadily, dropping to 3.65% in the last week.
The first week witnessed a relatively high positivity rate of 21.07%, followed by 13.53% in the second and 6.94% in the final week.
The number of deaths were also in decline.
As many as 233 deaths were recorded in the first week of February while the second week saw 211 deaths, followed by 136 and 63 fatalities in the third and final weeks, respectively.
February recorded 643 deaths—an average of 23 deaths a day. Meanwhile, 322 fatalities were reported in January with a daily average of 10 deaths.
January saw one of the biggest waves of infection, with the country recording some 213,294 cases and the daily positivity rate shooting up to 29.77% from 2.74%.
The latest wave, triggered by the Omicron variant, tested the health authorities in Bangladesh who struggled to cope with the overwhelming number of cases.
Health authorities prioritizing second dose
The government launched a number of inoculation drives in February, campaigning for people to get their first jabs.
However, the health authorities have now shifted the focus to administering the second dose, putting all campaigns for first doses on hold.
In an initial announcement on February 16, the government announced a stop to the administration of the first dose.
According to DGHS Vaccine Deployment Committee Member Secretary Dr Shamshul Haque, following the announcement over 20 million people received their first jabs.
The government later said that those eligible for the first dose would still be able to get them at their registered centres.
Plans to administer 40 million second doses in March
In January, the health authorities administered 23.99 million doses of vaccine. The figure rose to 26.56 million in February.
However, planning is underway to administer the second dose to at least 40 million people in March, reliable sources at the DGHS informed Dhaka Tribune.
DGHS data showed that over 124.69 million people had received the first dose till Tuesday evening while some 84.79 people had received the second dose.
The government wants to vaccinate everyone aged 12 or above and the number of the population eligible for the vaccine is 133.1 million, according to the DGHS.
According to people familiar with the matter people become complacent regarding the situation and are reluctant to go for the second dose.
Some 11.81 million people received the first dose in the first 25 days of February but around 14.74million people got the first dose of the vaccines in the last three days of the month during the mass campaign.
The enthusiasm amongst people is something that would inspire the health authorities to introduce more plans, DGHS chief Prof Dr ABM Khurshid Alam told Dhaka Tribune.
According to Prof Dr Nazmul Islam, a DGHS spokesperson, over 124 million people have received the first dose till now and 84.25 million received the second dose.
He said that two doses were better than one as a return to normalcy was still far away and urged everyone to adhere to safety precautions.