Journal of Biomedical Analytics

Social Distancing Challenges for Marginal Communities during COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

Nova Ahmed, Rahat Jahangir Rony, Kimia Zaman — Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This study presents the challenges of marginal communities in maintaining social distances during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focused on garment worker communities in Bangladesh. The current living conditions put the community at high risk due to the contagious nature of COVID-19. The study involved 55 garment workers (32 female) living in three different regions--Ashulia, Gazipur, and Mirpur of Bangladesh. Through a qualitative research method, three critical aspects were studied. First, the inability to maintain social distancing in the community living in close proximity. Second, there is a lack of concern about healthcare among the community and, finally, the absence of preparation for crisis management. The research work proposes policy level intervention for better healthcare in the light of the pandemic that can be helpful in the coming days.

Breaking the back of COVID-19: Is Bangladesh doing enough testing?

Md Hasinur Rahaman Khan, Tamanna Howlader — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Following detection of the first 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in early April, Bangladesh stepped up its efforts to strengthen testing capacity in order to curb the spread of the disease across the country. This paper sheds light on the position of Bangladesh in relation to its South Asian neighbors India and Pakistan with respect to testing capacity and ability to detect cases with increased testing. It also analyzes recent data on case counts and testing numbers in Bangladesh, to provide an idea regarding the number of extra tests needed to detect a substantial number of cases within a short period of time. Findings indicate that compared to India and Pakistan, Bangladesh was able to detect more cases by increasing testing levels and expand its testing capacity by performing more per capita tests. In spite of these achievements, the rate of reported cases per 100 tests was consistently higher for Bangladesh compared to India, which suggests that in addition to increased testing, other factors, such as, effective enforcement of social distancing and efficient contact tracing are just as important in curbing the spread of the disease. The analysis reveals that current testing levels in Bangladesh are not adequate. Based on the findings, we recommend a 30-50\% growth of the current test rate in the next few days so that by detecting and isolating more cases, Bangladesh could, in effect, contain the spread of new infections. The challenge, however, is to mobilize resources necessary to expand geographical coverage and improve testing quality while enforcing social distancing and performing efficient contact tracing.

Lockdown Policy Dilemma: COVID-19 Pandemic versus Economy and Mental Health

Hasan Ahamed, Kazi Tanvir Hasan, Md. Tamzid Islam, Faisal Chowdhury Galib — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lockdown is considered to be the best of policies around the world to fight the deadly virus of COVID-19 which decimated hundreds of people in the last six months. However, this is not a cost-free measure. Billions of dollars worth of economic activities halted hinging upon these measures imposed by the governments of the countries. For instance, IMF predicted that the GDP growth will decline by 4.9 percent in 2020. Global trade is also expected to plummet by 27 percent in the second quarter of the year. In addition, paucity of recreational activities severely affects the mental health of the people. While imposing lockdown, both the cost and benefit should be analyzed to understand the real benefit of these measures on human life. This study critically examines the impact of the lockdown measures on mental health, and the economy of Bangladesh along with the efficacy of the measures on containing the virus. We found that the negative impact on the economy and mental health surpasses the positive impact of curbing the pandemic. It also compares the efficacy of the measures in different countries to find out the pattern that resembles with Bangladesh. From all the data, we conclude that the cost of lockdown measures in the country is greater than the benefit it brings to Bangladesh.

Mass Panic During Covid-19 Outbreak- A Perspective from Bangladesh as a High-Risk Country

Sun, 10 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our brief commentary on the threat and potential impact of the publicâ€™s â€œpanicâ€ to the COVID-19 outbreak. As stated, Bangladesh is in a very precarious situation with the imminent threat of disease spreading throughout a densely populated country of over 160 million. We can make parallels to our recent experience with the devastating Dengue virus outbreak. We believe it is essential to share this report with other public health agencies and especially those from low-and-middle-income countries.

COVID-19 May Cause Severe Illness in Diabetic Patients

Abu Saim Mohammad Saikat — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

COVID-19 pandemic has become the top public health concern worldwide that represents a threat to the life of billions of people globally. Common causes of death of COVID-19 infected individuals are multi-organ failure, pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome, out of which pneumonia is the most common. COVID-19 patients with diabetes are at high risk for medical complications, which may lead to severe complications, even death.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Concern about Misuse of Antibiotics

Anwar Hossain, Md. Raknuzzaman, Masahiro Tokumura — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Novel coronavirus, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, which has been a global threat for human health. The infection of coronavirus spread worldwide. Particularly, the rapid spread in the South American and Asian countries is concerning where population density is very high, and health facilities are inadequate compared to developed countries. In developing countries, people are less willing to go to physicians or hospitals to diagnose diseases. Self-medication is a widespread and prominent practice in those countries, particularly taking of antibiotics. Hence, antibiotics, particularly azithromycin and other last-resort antibiotics related to respiratory tract infection, might be misused or overused for COVID-19 treatment. Therefore, we recommend to the responsible authorities to take an urgent initiative to concern the people of developing and least developed countries about the misuse or overuse of antibiotics against the coronavirus.