Who sang the song of humanity on a ‘death valley’ in 2020?

With 2020 nearing its end, the only thing one notices upon looking back is a pandemic that wreaked havoc throughout the year and claimed nearly 1.8 million lives across the world.  

The highly contagious Coronavirus killed a total of 1,727,361 people across the globe in the span of a year while the number roughly totals up to 7,359 in Bangladesh.

This year, people survived in an abode filled with the horror of unanticipated deaths and panic rooted from the unprecedented effects of Covid-19.

Even though some brave hearts stepped forward, consciously putting their lives on the brink of death, left no stone unturned to help the distressed and vulnerable in attempts to lighten the burden of their ordeals.

The heroes include - physicians, members of law enforcement agencies, media workers, administrative officials and other volunteers. 

Aside from those, there are some unsung heroes who kept people fed, picked up their trash, provided them with life-saving drugs, delivered groceries and packages, prepared their food and above all, arranged any kind of facilities required by those who needed it the most.

They bet their lives for the sake of others.   

Doctors: When people got overwhelmed with the severity of the coronavirus and left the infected in isolation, there were none but the physicians who came to their aid. The physicians continued doing their jobs even during the Covid-19 pandemic risking their own lives. 

According to data gathered by Bangladesh Medical Association, a total of 119 physicians have died from coronavirus or with symptoms like that of the virus. 

Among those were two dental surgeons who also passed away. The contribution of those doctors and other caregivers will be remembered with honor for ages to come. 

Law enforcers: When people confined themselves inside their homes to keep themselves protected from the virus, members of law enforcement agencies remained vigilant to execute the decisions undertaken by the authorities. 

Lockdown with complete shutdown was no doubt a new phenomenon for people in the third world countries such as Bangladesh. Due to lack of proper understanding among the masses, law enforcers struggled to convince them about complying with the government instructions. But they never hesitated to discharge their duties. 

Hundreds of policemen have died from coronavirus in Bangladesh in these recent months but it failed to develop a crack in their commitment to the nation.   

Media workers: Journalists are also in the frontlines of the fight against this deadly virus. They have been in the battlefield with minimum amount of safety gears and protection.

They have set an example in both the professional and humanitarian ground. 

Administrative officials: Members of different administrative bodies have been closely engaged in covid-19 response from the very beginning of the outbreak in the country. 

Especially when the government adopted restrictive measures to ward off a large-scale infection inside the country, the administrative bodies played a vital role in executing the decisions despite their fear of being infected with the virus. 

There are hundreds more who played a significant role in the covid-19 response. 

However, the pandemic is yet to be over. Although, the virus spreads when we are together, collaborating and working as a team is how we will be able to defeat the virus.