The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday said it had not advised any lockdown of Dhaka or Bangladesh amid the coronavirus infection cases rising in the country.
“During the meeting between the WHO representative and Mayor Sayeed Khokon, WHO did not recommend lockdown of Dhaka nor of Bangladesh,” the UN body said in a statement issued on Saturday.
“WHO presented several alternatives that can be implemented for maintaining social distance as well as for better communicating advice to the population on protecting themselves and others,” said the statement signed by Catalin Bercaru, on the staff of the Communication and Media Relations department at WHO Bangladesh office.
The WHO statement came within a couple of hours of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayor Sayeed Khokon claiming that WHO had suggested declaring emergency in Bangladesh if the situation deteriorated.
After meeting a WHO delegation led by its representative to Bangladesh Dr. Bardan Jung Rana at his residence, the DSCC mayor claimed the UN body had suggested that Bangladesh follow two strategies to combat the coronavirus outbreak --- one, a state emergency and, two, a lockdown or partial lockdown in the country.
However, just after the meeting, when journalists approached Dr. Bardan Jung Rana, he said WHO could not make any such suggestion as it was a matter to be decided by the government.
“If a country followed the lockdown policy, then transmission would be slow, which has been proved in other countries. Every country is vulnerable as most countries in the world are affected by this,” he told reporters.
Responding to journalists queries, the WHO expert said people should maintain ‘social distance’ which means people should not gather and no big meetings shall be held.
He suggested that organizations should use media and information technology systems to alert people.
“But none of us are out of risk. Everyone has to be careful in their respective places,” said WHO representative.
So far, 24 people have been infected in Bangladesh. There have been two deaths and three have been released from hospital following recovery.
The fast spreading coronavirus, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), has claimed more than 11,000 lives and infected over 276,000 people across the globe, according to worldometer.
