Comparing COVID-19 Pandemic Responses of Three South Asian Countries - Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh
Keywords:
COVID-19, Coronavirus, South Asia, pandemic response, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
Abstract
South Asia has been hit hard economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, while apparently having done better in terms of mortality and morbidity than many Western countries. This article compares the COVID-19 responses of three South Asian countries, namely Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Robust and agile containment efforts along with spirited community cooperation appear to be the key ingredients for Bhutan’s success. Early implementation of lockdown and other measures along with rigorous tracing, testing, and isolation helped Sri Lanka limit much of its cases to clusters and quarantine centres. On the other hand, Bangladesh’s poorer performance can be explained with a weaker “trace, test, and treat” strategy, coupled with high population density and less effective implementation of control measures. While frank comparisons between countries are inaccurate given the differing contexts, useful insights can nonetheless emerge from comparative analyses of country responses.
References
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11. ET Healthworld [Internet]. Bhutan imposes 1st nationwide coronavirus lockdown. 2020 Aug 13 [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/bhutan-imposes-1st-nationwide-coronavirus-lockdown/ 77521282
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24. Islam K, Ali S, Akanda SZR, Rahman S, Kamruzzaman AHM, Pavel SAK, Baki J. COVID -19 Pandemic and Level of Responses in Bangladesh. Int J Rare Dis Disord. 2020;3:019. doi.org/10.23937/2643-4571/1710019
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33. Zakaria AKM. Coronavirus: Lack of testing will increase the risk [Internet]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 2020 Mar 17 [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from:
34. Hasan R. Shambolic: 142 Italy returnees allowed to go home after day-long mismanagement [Internet]. The Daily Star. 2020 Mar 15 [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from: https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/shambolic-1880866
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38. UNDP in the Bangladesh [Internet]. Millennium Development Goals. [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from: https://www.bd.undp. org/content/bangladesh/en/home/post-2015/millennium-development-goals.html
39. Statista [Internet]. Health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product in Bhutan from 2007 to 2016. [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/780501/health-expenditure-share-of-gdp-bhutan/
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41. Statista [Internet]. Health expenditure as a share of gross domestic product in Bangladesh from 2007 to 2016. [Cited 2020 Nov 6]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/780494/health-expenditure-share-of-gdp-bangladesh/
Published
2020-11-25
How to Cite
Dr. Soham D. Bhaduri. (2020). Comparing COVID-19 Pandemic Responses of Three South Asian Countries - Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The Indian Practitioner, 73(11), 7-14. Retrieved from http://articles.theindianpractitioner.com/index.php/tip/article/view/1079
Section
Editorial
