Governing COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Realities and Reflections to Build Forward Better

Abstract

As Bangladesh celebrates its 50th year of independence in 2021, it also faces an unprecedented health, social, and economic crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. A wave of the highly transmissible and deadly Delta variant of the Coronavirus swept through a population, of which less than 3% have been fully vaccinated. Infection rates rose sharply from mid-May to mid-July of 2021, but the 1.12 million recorded cases and 18,125 recorded deaths are very likely to be an underestimation. After the first nationwide lockdown of 2021 was announced on 5 April, a second and officially far stricter lockdown was declared in July 2021; but restrictions were eased for the Eid-ul-Adha festival on 21 July. A large majority of the population continues to rely on daily wages, indicating the need for cash or food support to allow them to comply with the lockdown.