The visiting Chinese expert team expressed deep frustrations over the poor level of awareness of coronavirus among the people of Bangladesh.
This was disclosed during a virtual interaction between the members of the team and the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association in Bangladesh (DCAB).
Chinese Embassy in Dhaka organised the meeting.
They also hinted that the country yet to reach the peak of coronavrus infection and suggested ‘strict and scientific’ enforcement of lockdown.
Narrating the impression of the Chinese team, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Chinese Embassy Hualong Yan said that the lack of awareness among people of all levels here made them frustrated.
“These include officials, health professionals, law enforcers, as well as journalists” he said adding that in China awareness was the key to prevent the virus.
“Many health professionals here remove their masks, take food and drink and again start their work wearing mask. We do not allow this in China” a member of the team said.
The priority to contain further surge in infection will depend on how the country is handling this, they said.
They suggested scientific and strict enforcement of lockdown to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In China, 40 thousand health professional were sent to Wuhan after the outbreak of coronavirus epidemic. But none of these 40 thousand health professionals got infected due to high awareness” Mr Yan said.
The doctors were very much aware and off course they had sufficient PPE, he added.
Responding to a question a member of the team said that they were not sure Bangladesh reached the peak but it is very difficult to say and only researchers can tell when the pandemic will end.
It depends on the management of the COVID-19 situation. If the management is bad then the infection will rise, they added.
The Chinese expert team arrived in the city on June 8, and will return on Monday.
During their stay in Bangladesh they have visited a number of hospitals and institutions and held a series of meetings with the health experts and professionals to share their experiences.
The team will submit their recommendations within a week, he said.
Sharing observations of the team, Mr Yan said that early detection and early isolation is a must to prevent coronavirus.
And for this raising the rate of the test is necessary, he added.
COVID-19 is not fatal but death occurs when the patient has other weaknesses like diabetic or heart problems, the expert team noted.
