With the current resurgence of Covid-19 in China, there are now realistic fears that another wave of the deadly virus can envelop any nation that does not have the adequate measures put up to bypass it.
Bangladesh cannot be one of those nations.
Unfortunately, it appears the new, seemingly more contagious Omicron sub-variant of the coronavirus, BF7, has already been detected in Bangladesh, as confirmed by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, and Research. The new variant seems far more evasive of immunity and will likely require further inoculation drives to stave off, and has most likely been imported through Chinese citizens travelling to Bangladesh in recent times.
To say that it was incredibly irresponsible of the Chinese authorities to let their citizens get away with faulty tests that produced negative results would be an understatement. However, it was due to the quick actions taken by our own health administration that the spread of this new variant might have been contained to some degree.
While the threat of Covid-19 may appear to be in the rearview for most of us, realistically, that seems far from the truth. Despite the virus' waning effects and lack of deaths caused, covid cases have still been surging in Bangladesh for the last few months.
Clearly, we are not out of the woods yet.
The recent drive of fourth doses for the elderly need to be expedited and mask mandates need to be reinstated by the authorities before the worst comes to pass.
Our country has done a stellar job in minimizing the effects of the rampaging virus, and if there is even a hint of Covid-19 coming back stronger than ever, we must all do the needful to ensure that the virus is kept at bay.
