Health Minister Zahid Maleque has defended his government’s plan to tighten the lockdown and said it is the only alternative to immunisation amid a lack of COVID-19 vaccines.
Bangladesh has moved to start a stricter lockdown nationwide on Monday with the deployment of troops alongside the police and other law-enforcement agencies. The new pandemic rules will bar people from leaving home and shut all offices as COVID cases are surging.
Bangladesh on Saturday reported 4,334 new cases of COVID-19 in a day, taking the tally of infections to 883,138. The death toll surged by 77 in the same period to 14,053.
According to bdnews24.com, it took only 15 days for the death toll to reach 14,000 from 13,000 amid a sharp spike in infections.
“If you don’t have vaccines, lockdowns are the only effective way to prevent coronavirus infections. All the countries in the world are controlling the coronavirus by using lockdowns,” Maleque told reporters at his ancestral home in Manikaganj on Saturday.
“We don’t prefer a lockdown because it harms people and the economy. But we’re imposing it as we have to save lives.”
Noting that Bangladesh was facing a coronavirus vaccine supply squeeze, the health minister described the steps taken by the government to secure enough doses for the population.
Bangladesh will have 110 million doses -- two for one person -- by December if all goes according to plan, Maleque said.
The government is also planning to produce vaccines in Bangladesh by setting up a plant in Gopalganj along with a pharmaceutical factory, he said.
“It will take time, but the work has begun.