Are SAARC countries prepared to combat COVID-19 to save young, working-age population?
Farhana Sultana, Hasan Mahmud Reza
Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak has expanded across the globe. Most of the countries are launching different measures to stop the transmission of this virus. However, the death toll is steadily rising. Strikingly the rate of coronavirus infection among the young-age population is the highest in SAARC countries as more than 80% population of the SAARC countries are young who constitute the working-age group. The disease transmission also occurs at a slower rate presumably due to diverse lifestyles of different ethnicities, immunity and genetic traits; but not because of the hot and humid weather despite previous assumptions. Since SAARC countries comprise 23.75% of the world population and the largest portion of these people is the young working-class, some immediate measures need to be implemented to save these valuable lives from COVID-19. Till now, there is no specific treatment or vaccine available; hence timely-taken preventive measures are the only hope that can save the people of this region. Here we have demonstrated an altered disease transmission pattern in people of SAARC countries, measures initiated by the governments, causes of failure and further actions to be taken to control disease transmission.