Law enforcers, doctors and health workers were still vulnerable across the country including Dhaka city to contracting the novel coronavirus while working as frontline fighters in the field to ensure people's safety and treatment.
"Without proper PPE, we are fight a dangerous battle without any protection," a doctor in Dhaka, who preferred anonymity, told the daily Observer on Tuesday.
Health workers and also law enforcers have also complained about the quality of PPE being provided to them.
Law enforcers, doctors and health workers use chemical-resistant PPE, which are not yet known if these are really virus resistance and made in medical-grade environment to produce medical-grade equipment.
Among the infected, 21 have so far recovered on Tuesday. Among the infected, 87 have so far recovered, while five police personnel have died. At least 239 members of the police working on the frontline have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
At least 1,153 police personnel were infected with coronavirus as of Tuesday, according to a tally of Bangladesh Police Headquarters. The figure was around 900 till Monday afternoon. Of the total infected, 576 are from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) alone.
Besides, a good number of infected personnel are from Narayanganj, Gazipur and Dhaka districts, sources in the police headquarters said.
Besides, 1,063 others are in isolation as they showed coronavirus-like symptoms. A total of 1,179, who were in close contact with the infected, have been put in quarantine, reads the database.
Only 181 police personnel were in isolation as of available data till yesterday afternoon but it rose sharply in the last 24 hours, according to officials.
Hundreds of doctors and health workers have been infected with coronavirus in Bangladesh, making up 11 per cent of the total infections reported in the country.
"Some patients hide their travel details due to the stigma associated with being carriers of Covid-19 making the job of health workers difficult and unsafe," source said.
In addition, police are disinfecting streets, assisting working people -- to ensure social distancing in lockdown -- taking people to hospitals for treatment and locating people who have escaped quarantine, making them extremely vulnerable to the virus as they are not being provided with the necessary safety equipment, according to police officials.
"We are on the frontlines to stem the outbreak of the novel coronavirus across the country. But what we've received from the government in terms of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) are nothing but raincoats and ordinary face masks," police said.
"In practice, police personnels without coronavirus symptoms have not been provided with any PPE and are purchasing their own safety equipment like facemasks and hand gloves.
And those who are assigned to the coronavirus team for emergency service, including transporting patients to hospitals or dead bodies for funerals, have been receiving only a single set of PPE," he said.
Also, it is nearly impossible for the police to practice social distancing while carrying out their duties as people are not yet aware enough to observe the necessary distance and police have been mainly infected with Covid-19 from such situations, the two police officials added.
