The situation in Covid-19 dedicated hospitals started worsening again with faster deterioration of the pandemic in Bangladesh, physicians and officials said.
To cope with the increased inflow of new cases, many hospitals are now only allowing patients in critical state as the number of vacant beds is getting squeezed quickly.
The FE found the same scene after visiting some coronavirus-treating facilities on Friday when the country recorded the second highest single-day spike of 108 deaths.
The highest 112 people succumbed in a day on April 19 this year.
Along with the fatalities, the infection rate is also rising rapidly, which is a concern for healthcare scholars.
In the last 24 hours ending on Friday morning, a total of 5,869 people tested positive and the daily infection rate climbed to 21.22 per cent.
This is the highest single-day infection rate recorded in more than two months.
On April 17, the daily test positivity rate stood at 21.46 per cent.
Now, the overall number of infections and deaths increased to 878,804 and 13,976 respectively while the recovery toll reached 797,559.
Observing the recent situation, healthcare scholars and officials concerned feared that the Covid healthcare facilities would not be in a position to accommodate new cases anymore if this uptrend continues for two or three weeks.
Visiting Kurmitola General Hospital, the FE found a rush of patients from various corners of the country to the hospital.
But the hospital sent back a majority of them to either other hospitals or home-based treatment.
One Kamrul Islam, who came from Rajshahi to get his brother admitted to the hospital, said his brother tested positive a week ago.
"As his oxygen level dropped, we took him (brother) here, but the hospital people refused to take him and suggested treatment from home," he said with the tone of frustration.
When contacted, medical officer of the hospital Rashid Hasan said the number of incoming patients have significantly been increasing over the past several days.
He said they usually receive some 10 patients on average a day even a week ago and now the number goes up to 40 people.
"But we've only seven vacant beds while all the ICUs are occupied by patients. So, we're selective in taking patients. We are now allowing patients who need the treatment urgently."
The occupancy rate keeps increasing fast in other hospitals treating coronavirus patients.
Talking to the FE, DGHS director (hospitals) Dr Farid Hossain Miah said the hospital came under pressure again for the last several days as Covid started spreading faster across the country.
The situation at hospitals is still under control, but it will be hard to handle if the upward trend continues for few weeks, according to Dr Hossain.
Expressing concern over the growing number of casualties, healthcare activist Rashid-e-Mahbub said the government is delaying in enforcing a complete shutdown as suggested by the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19.
"The government must act strictly to force people to follow lockdown rules. Otherwise, we cannot control the situation, even dubling hospital capacities."
As per the NTAC's recommendations released on Thursday, all modes of transport, excepting those in emergency services, and offices should be closed during the proposed shutdown.
"Otherwise, all other ongoing efforts and preparations to fight the Covid-19 pandemic would go in vain," it said.
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