Tuesday, March 31, 2020

In a fight with the COVID-19: Public Health Perspective



The COVID-19 emerged during December 2019 at Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China has infected more than 722,900 people claiming 34,200 lives so far till 29 March 2020 just after causing first death on 11 January 2020, in a very short time, literally within 2 months 18 days only and counting more at every single second, spreading worldwide at an exponential rate. The trace to COVID-19 takes us on 31 December 2019, when ­the World Health Organization (WHO) was alerted to a group of pneumonia patients in China. After one week, on 07 January 2020, the Chinese authority confirmed identifying a new type of Coronavirus that caused pneumonia and named it as 2019‑nCoV. On 11 February 2020, the WHO named it COVID-19 and on 11 March 2020, WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic as it infected 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people lost their lives till then.
 
Typical shape of Coronavirus. Source: National Geographic

Bangladesh, the world’s 8th largest populated country with 165.55 million people having a population density of 1,121.50 per square kilometer, officially reported its first three COVID-19 cases on 08 March 2020 by Professor Dr. Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Director, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). Since then, IEDCR and other organizations performed the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test on 1,076 individuals ranging from 50 to 110 persons daily and found forty-eight COVID-19 positive people among whom 15 had recovered and 5 had died, surprisingly enough, there was no single COVID-19 case had been found on 28 and 29 March 2020, raising a question over the coverage of tests being conducted. However, the print news media of Bangladesh are constantly reporting few more deaths everyday terming them showing COVID-19 like symptoms during their deaths, but these claims are of uncertainty as IEDCR was not able to test their blood samples at many occurrences. Meanwhile, the WHO has classified Bangladesh’s COVID-19 spread as “Locally Transmitted”. Realizing the urgency of preparedness and responding to the pandemic, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) of Bangladesh has drafted and published 17 Guidelines so far, covering national preparedness, individual-level prevention procedures, home care of COVID-19 mild symptoms showing persons, standard operating procedures for hospitals, patients’ biological and other waste handlings, and many other fundamental aspects. However, it is worrisome to observe that the mortality rate in Bangladesh is 10.42% due to COVID-19 that is terribly higher than any other SAARC Countries, followed by Afghanistan that has COVID-19 mortality rate at 3.33% till today (Table- 1).

On 25 March 2020, while addressing the nation on the occasion of the Independence and National Day, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the plea by saying, “We won in 1971 against our enemy by standing shoulder to shoulder. Fighting Coronavirus is also a war and in this war, your responsibility is to stay home. If the Almighty wants, we shall win the war with everyone’s efforts”. Riding on the exact directions provided, Bangladesh should take the WHO’s extensively explained 8 major pillars at its publication “Operational Planning Guidelines To Support Country Preparedness And Response” very seriously (Figure- 1).

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Furthermore, the WHO has segregated these eight major pillars into 3 levels of priority steps and actions, i.e., Basic Level, Developing Level, and Sustainable Level. At the Basic Level, a country is suggested to map current capabilities and establish actions based on pre-existing plans, while, at the Developing Level, a country is recommended to broaden the scope of actions and deploy additional resources, and to be at the Sustainable Level, the country should gain the ability of systematic monitoring and adjusting readiness and response plans as appropriate. Revisiting the immediate steps suggested by the WHO in Operational Planning Guidelines and Bangladesh’s current developments on Coronavirus, the following recommendations are made to sharpen the country’s strategies in this battle with COVID-19.

Testing Facilities to be made available up to the District Level
Along with IEDCR, 3 other organizations- Institute of Public Health (IPH), Dhaka Shishu Hospital (DSH), and Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) have started testing the blood samples for COVID-19 detection very recently. However, as 3 of the testing facilities are located in Dhaka and 1 in Chittagong, there is a very high possibility that many COVID-19 infected persons may go undetected creating threats further on the entire population. This may also cause failure in harnessing positive results through the declared partial lockdown in the country from 26 March to 04 April 2020, as the existing institutional resources of these 4 organizations may not be enough to offer country-wide testing services more frequently. In such a case, South Korean ready-experience of setting up “Phone Booth” look-like quick COVID-19 examination facilities taking only 7 minutes to perform the whole examination process can be the light of hope for Bangladesh. Addressing this criticality, DGHS can consider seeking the cooperation of Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Bangladesh for setting up this COVID-19 examining Phone Booths here at 64 districts in Bangladesh, the government can also work on transferring the know-how for enabling more human resources for operating these facilities.

Readying the Upazilla level Hospitals with Isolation Units
It has been learned from the “National Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19, Bangladesh” that 3 hospitals of Dhaka city- Kurmitola, Kuwait Moitree, and IDH, have been selected for managing the patients in isolation, and around 500 hospitals will be prepared for initial care of the COVID-19 patients with mild illness. However, as the population density of Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world, so the existing central isolation system at the national or district level would not give any edge. In the way of bringing a COVID-19 infected individual from a corner of the country to the centre would create scopes of spreading viruses at many layers of transportations. In addition, all the 500 hospitals should be readied at the quickest pace with Ventilators and sufficient 3 layered Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) following the practices of China could be made available for frontline Doctors, Nurses, and other Health Workers.

Incentivizing the Manufacturers to make Essentials for preventing the spread of COVID-19
On 27 March 2020, The United States President Donald Trump has ordered General Motors to make ventilators for Coronavirus patients, on the other side, on 20 March 2020, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau had launched Canada’s Plan to Mobilize Industry to fight COVID-19, that orients new measures directly supporting businesses to rapidly scale up production or retool their manufacturing lines to develop critical health and safety supplies and equipment, including sanitization products, personal protective equipment, diagnostic and testing products, and disease tracking technologies in Canada that will support the battle against Coronavirus. It is praiseworthy that, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also announced Taka 5,000 crore incentive package for export-oriented businesses that could only be disbursed in the form of wages and salaries for workers and staffs. Similarly, Bangladesh Government may also think of offering stimulus package for mobilizing the manufacturing hubs in making ventilators, face masks and shields, hand gloves, sanitizers, PPEs, testing kits, etc. leaving no scope for scarcity of these essentials that can be seen in the market, home, and hospital.

Strictly monitoring the movement of Quarantined Individuals
Till 29 March 2020, Bangladesh has quarantined 53,442 people among whom 24,959 individuals have already obtained release notes from the authority. But, the news media constantly posted in the last several days that home quarantined people at many places are going free and visiting relatives’ houses, markets, and religious places, crafting increasing threats for localities. Community-level awareness building program has to be launched immediately followed by a strict monitoring system enacted by the local police force to enable quarantine as a proper measure to slow down the spread of COVID-19.

The entire world is now at the stake of uncertainty, and the people of Bangladesh have the common belief that this critical situation will not last long if steps taken by the government are synched with the private sector initiatives, propelled with home-grown technologies, and communicated with the communities at right time­.

Enamul Hafiz Latifee is Deputy Secretary, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). Can be reached at: ehlatifee@dhakachamber.com

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Bangladesh and Vietnam: Towards a shared future

Enamul Hafiz Latifee writes,


Bangladesh has demonstrated staggering economic performance over the last decade spotting 6.76 percent annual average GDP growth and now paving towards double-digit growth just after achieving 8.13 percent GDP growth in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-19 by registering GDP of US$ 302.43 billion, thanks to the government reformative steps to diversify industrialization and facilitate international trade and commerce. The sustained economic growth is now leading Bangladesh to become a developing country by 2024 and developed country by 2041.

On the other side, Vietnam’s US$ 260.30 billion economy is forecasted to grow to 6.5 percent on average in 2019-23 from 5.9 percent in 2012-16. Exports are expected to fasten economic activity, adjoined by the influx of foreign direct investment (FDI). According to Goldman Sachs, Vietnam is poised to become the world's 21st largest economy by 2025.

Bangladesh and Vietnam, both countries are on the verge of further economic expansions in terms of export-import, investment and economic integration. This common interest between Bangladesh and Vietnam should render closer bilateral economic ties that would enable receiving the goals on or before the targeted timeline.

The export earnings of Bangladesh from Vietnam amounted to US$ 53.47 million in FY 2018-19. During the period, Top 10 exporting products covering 54.81 percent of the exports were fresh, chilled, frozen, salted Guts, Bladders and Stomachs of animals; Leather of animals without hair; Single Yarn of Jute or of other Textile based Fibers; Sacks and Bags of Jute; Slag, Dross, etc. from the manufacture of Iron or Steel; Sesame Seeds; Medicaments of Mixed or Unmixed Products; Raw Jute and T-Shirts, Vest of Cotton- knitted.

In FY 2017-18, imports of Bangladesh from Vietnam reached US$ 594.69 million. The Top 10 imported items by Bangladesh from Vietnam were Cement and Cement Clinkers; Rice; Telephone Sets and Cellular Phones; Pebbles, Stones and Gravel; Cotton Yarn other than Sewing Thread; Synthetic Filament Yarn; Leather further prepared after tanning or crusting; Structures and Parts of Structures; Woven Fabrics of Synthetic Filament Yarn; ­­Natural Rubber and similar Natural Gums.

Air Connectivity: Direct flights to start
There is no direct air-flight between Bangladesh and Vietnam. As a result, it takes more than 17 hours to travel from Bangladesh to Vietnam and vice versa, though the air distance between these two countries is 2,165 kilometers.
By realizing this criticality of air connectivity, while meeting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year on 26 April 2018 at Intercontinental Sydney Hotel in Australia, Honourable Vietnam Vice-President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh expressed her country’s keen interest to establish direct air connectivity with Bangladesh. This would cut down the average flight-time from 17 hours to 4 hours, saving around 13 hours that would surely encourage business entrepreneurs and industrialists to pay frequent visits to both of the countries with a view to expanding trade, building up direct business relations and making investments.

Issues with Letter of Credit (L/C) Opening: Finding the best alternative
Vietnam has regulatory protection against the risk of payment for export against contracts or open account so that importers are not likely to open L/Cs and bear additional bank charges, however, the case is pretty different in Bangladesh as regulatory protection to the alternatives of L/Cs is quite inadequate. As this intra-country banking difference is significantly hurting bilateral trade so that either Bangladesh may consider pursuing Vietnamese Govt. to encourage it’s importers to open L/Cs while importing from Bangladesh and take special awareness programs on that, or Bangladesh may introduce other alternatives to L/Cs backed by newer regulatory framework to protect exporters.

Issues with Visa Application: Easing the application process
Bangladeshi business people face a significant challenge in applying for Vietnamese multiple-entry business visa. The visa application requires submitting the invitation letter from Vietnamese company and also No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Home Affairs of Vietnam that is a real hurdle for business people to obtain.

Taking under consideration, the existing required visa application documents and processes to follow for multiple entry business visa, it is recommended that Bangladesh and Vietnam should provide visa exemption to each other’s citizens for 30 days and for more than 30 days stay- multiple entry business visas, the requirement of NOC from Ministry of Home Affairs of Vietnam should be waived.

Bangladesh received a record US$ 3.61 billion in FY 2018-19 as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up by 67.94% more than in FY 2017-18, thanks to the de-jure reforms and promotional activities pursued by the government to attract new investments. Interestingly, China tops at investing in Bangladesh by making FDI of US$ 1.03 billion as soaring wages at home have seen many Chinese firms set up factories in Bangladesh.

The minimum wage of Bangladesh is now US$ 95 which is considerably low compared to US$ 166.5 minimum wage of Vietnam, turning out Bangladesh to be a very attractive investment destination for Vietnamese investors and industrialists to relocate their factories, especially the primary and intermediary goods-manufacturing factories that are linked to making tertiary or final products and service-based businesses, such as business process and management outsourcing (BPMO) firms.

Reciprocally Beneficial Trade Agreement Negotiation to Launch
Vietnam is one of the members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which has ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) indicating that Vietnam enjoys free trade with other ASEAN member-states, i.e., Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. More to that ASEAN has Free Trade Agreements with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Hong Kong turning Vietnam to enjoy benefits easy market access at the reduced tariff rates and non-tariff measures as a member-state of ASEAN.

Apart from that, Vietnam has following FTAs,


  1. Vietnam- European Union Free Trade Agreement
  2. Vietnam- Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement
  3. Vietnam- Chile Free Trade Agreement  
  4. Vietnam- Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement  
  5. Vietnam- Japan Economic Partnership Agreement   
  6. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Counting ASEAN’s FTA coverage and Vietnam’s bilateral FTAs, the country has free market access at reduced tariffs rates and diminished non-tariff measures to an aggregated market of around 4.77 billion people that is 61.87 percent of the World Population. Bangladesh and the industrialists of the country may reap off the benefits of this massive market access of Vietnam if Bangladesh reaches Free Trade Agreement with Vietnam covering trade in goods and services, both. Bangladesh also should consider the Investment Protection Agreement with Vietnam that would give an edge to FTA.

The other forward-looking steps if taken as discussed above and the possible successful negotiation of bilateral FTA with Vietnam if reached then that would also mean for Bangladesh, an increase in export-import with Vietnam, diversify export-basket as the “Top 10” export items of Bangladesh is significantly different from its regular “Top 10” exporting items to the major export destinations, and work as complementary partner for each other but not as substitutive in the world market.

Enamul Hafiz Latifee is Deputy Secretary, Trade Facilitation Department, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). Can be reached at: enamul.hafiz.sust@gmail.com. Views expressed here are not from the organization that the author represents.

You may read the article published in the leading daily newspapers below,
  1. https://www.observerbd.com/details.php?id=212589
  2. http://m.thedailynewnation.com/news/225569/bangladesh-and-vietnam
  3. http://m.theindependentbd.com/printversion/details/211423