Covid-19 decline is not a matter of relief yet: DGHS

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has said though the rate of coronavirus infections and deaths has decreased but it is not a matter of relief yet.

The DGHS spokesperson Prof Dr Md Robed Amin made the comment at a virtual health bulletin on Covid-19 situation on Sunday.

He further said, “We have shown a lot of numerology, but the decrease of coronavirus infections and deaths is not a matter of relieve for us. If we say stable transmission of Covid-19, then we have to bring it below five percent. Yet our infection rate is more than 13 percent. Even after moving to this five percent, it cannot be said that a country will be free from Covid-19.”

Robed Amin said, “There will come a time when we can say that no coronavirus patient has been identified in 24 hours. There were no deaths. If we can keep this condition going for two to three weeks, then we can say that we have been able to control Covid-19 completely.”

Asked if the infection could increase again, he said it is very difficult to say about it.

The DGHS spokesperson said, “This is an unpredictable virus. There are many variants of it. But Bangladesh has already seen all the variants including Alpha, beta, gamma and delta. A natural characteristic of these variants is that such variants do not last long, weaken finally. That is why there is no reason to worry about alpha, beta, gamma variants at present.”

“The features of the Delta variant that we have seen in different countries have a storm-like effect for two to three months, after which the variant of the virus gradually decreases. Maybe Bangladesh is also going through that experience. We cannot say whether any new variant will come to our country or not. Chances are there will always be,” he added.

If we adhere to the health rules, the chances of infection are less likely to increase regardless of the variant, said Robed Amin.