Risks remain on water front: People crossing the Buriganga river on their way to the capital city by a boat on Sunday without following the health guidelines amid the Covid-19 pandemic — FE photo by Shafiqul Alam 
Hinting that Bangladesh has yet to reach the peak of coronavirus infections, the visiting Chinese experts suggested 'strict and scientific' enforcement of lockdown to box in the transmission of deadly pathogen.
They also voiced their deep concern over the poor level of awareness about the severity of the virus among Bangladeshi people.
The team made the remarks while interacting with the members of the Diplomatic Correspondents' Association of Bangladesh or DCAB.
The Chinese embassy in Dhaka organised the meeting.
Narrating the impression of the Chinese team, deputy chief of mission of the embassy Hualong Yan said the lack of awareness among the people has made them frustrated.
The people include officials, health professionals, members of law enforcement agencies, and journalists, he said adding that in China, the awareness was the main key to preventing the virus.
"Many health professionals here take their masks off and take food and drink and again start their work wearing masks. We do not allow this in China," a member of the team said.
They said Bangladesh's priority should be to prevent further surge in infection and this will depend on how the country is handling it.
They suggested scientific and strict enforcement of lockdown to handle the coronavirus pandemic.
"In China, 40 thousand health professionals were sent to Wuhan after the breakout of the Covid epidemic there. But none of these 40 thousand health professionals got infected due to high awareness," Mr Yan said.
The doctors were very aware and of course they had sufficient protective gear, he added.
Responding to a question, a member of the team said that they think Bangladesh yet to reach the peak.
Only researchers can tell when pandemic will end, he added.
It depends on the management of the Covid situation, if the management is bad then the infection will rise, they warned.
The Chinese expert team arrived in the country on June 8, and they return home today (Monday).
During their stay in Bangladesh, they visited a number of hospitals and institutions and held a series of meetings with the health experts and professionals to share their experiences.
The team will submit their recommendations in a week, Mr. Yan said.
Sharing the observations of the team, he said that early detection as well as early isolation is a must to prevent coronavirus.
To make that happen, he insisted, raising the rate of the tests is crucial.
Covid is not fatal, but death occurs when the patient has other underlying, conditions like diabetes or heart problems, the expert team noted.
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