About this Emergency Response Plan
The COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in recent history. It is both a public health crisis and a humanitarian crisis that is impacting the lives, health and livelihoods of people around the world. On the 31st of December 2019, WHO was alerted to a cluster of pneumonia patients in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. One week later, on the 7th of January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a novel (new) coronavirus as the cause of the pneumonia. On the 30th of January 2020, the Director-General of WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005). The potential impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most vulnerable people already affected by displacement, conflict, natural disasters and climate change makes it the most urgent threat of our times.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Bangladesh in March 2020. The first three known cases were reported on 7 March 2020 by the country’s epidemiology institute, IEDCR. Infections remained low until the end of March but saw a steep rise in April 2020.
The operational strategy developed in this document is based on and adapted from the WHO global COVID-19 preparedness plan (published in February 2020), National Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19 of the Bangladesh Government, Revised Emergency Appeal on COVID-19 outbreak of IFRC and UN Coordinated appeal.
This document sets out the ‘preparedness and response plan’ of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society for COVID-19. The document outlines the planning scenarios, areas of work and priority activities required to scale up capacities to respond to and prevent COVID-19 threats in a coordinated manner.
This emergency response plan also outlines the public health measures that BDRCS stands ready to provide all over country to prepare for and respond to COVID-19. The document takes what BDRCS have learned so far throughout the response and translates that knowledge into strategic action to guide BDRCS and partners’ response in different contexts.