Insights into the first seven-months of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: lessons learned from a high-risk country

Abstract

South Asian countries have been struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic despite imposing months of lockdown and other public health measures. This review aims to describe the epidemiological features and shortcomings in public health preparedness to tackle COVID-19 as well as derive lessons from these events in the context of Bangladesh. We have shown that an increase in human mobility was evident throughout the lockdown period. Over 20,000 frontline health workers were affected, and more than 2100 unofficial deaths possibly linked with COVID-19 diagnosis were reported. Males were disproportionately affected in terms of infection (71%) and death (77%) than females. Over 50% of infected cases were reported among young adults (20-40-year age group). After seven months into the pandemic, a downward trend in laboratory test positive percentage was seen, although the number of new deaths per day remained largely unchanged. We believe our findings, observations and recommendations will remain as a valuable resource to facilitate better public health practice and policy for managing current and future infectious disease like COVID-19 in resource-poor developing countries. © 2021