Challenges of Testing COVID-19 Cases in Bangladesh

Khan Rubayet Rahaman, Md. Sultan Mahmud and Bishawjit Mallick
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Khan Rubayet Rahaman: Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
Md. Sultan Mahmud: United Nations, Planning Unit, Shelter and Site Division, Cox’s Bazar 4700, Bangladesh
Bishawjit Mallick: Chair of Environmental Development and Risk Management, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), 01217 Dresden, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: Keeping the dynamic nature of Coronaviruses (COVID-19) pandemic in mind, we have opted to explore the importance of the decentralization of COVID-19 testing centers across the country of Bangladesh in order to combat the pandemic. In doing so, we considered quantitative, qualitative, and geographic information systems (GIS) datasets to identify the location of existing COVID-19 testing centers. Moreover, we attempted to collect data from the existing centers in order to demonstrate testing times at the divisional level of the country. Results show that the number of testing centers is not enough to cater to the vast population of the country. Additionally, we found that the number of days it takes to receive the results from the COVID-19 testing centers is not optimal at divisional cities, let alone the remote rural areas. Finally, we propose a set of recommendations in order to enhance the existing system to assist more people under a testing range of COVID-19 viruses at the local level.

Keywords: COVID-19; environment; decentralisation; Bangladesh; public health; policies; management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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