Abstract
Community confidence in institutional approaches to emergency management directs how they cooperate and comply with public policy responses. In the context of emerging COVID-19 pandemic risk management, this study aims to assess public confidence in the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and private sector entities for the activities undertaken during preparedness, prevention, and response phases. A survey was conducted with 307 respondents who willingly took part in the study. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal reliability and the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to estimate the mean score difference between the observations. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied in the study. The findings suggest that the participants were highly positive about the GoB efforts to organize and provide PPE for doctors in time as a safeguard against COVID-19 and coordination and informed decision making in relation to facing COVID-19. Overall, the participants showed a lower-level confidence in the preparedness and response measures taken by authorities in Bangladesh. The results explored how the GoB failed to reach the public satisfaction level regarding provision of food and financial support to low income and middle income people. A lack of collaboration and coordination among different inter-GoB and private sectors makes mitigation and recovery process difficult. This research provides a set of policy recommendations for future public health emergency management based on the participants' concerns and suggestions, and a review of consequences of policy responses in the early stage.
Highlights
The very first confirmed case of COVID-19 was registered in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020
Responsive, and business continuity plans prepared by the different agencies within the government of Bangladesh will be able to deal with the consequences of epidemic diseases such as COVID-19 pandemic in time
For response effort RE2 “All the preventive, responsive, and business continuity plans prepared by the different agencies within the government of Bangladesh will be able to deal with the consequences of epidemic diseases such as COVID-19 pandemic in time.” was found as the most significant
Summary
The very first confirmed case of COVID-19 was registered in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GoB has undertaken some non-medical and medical policy interventions such as ensuring limited gatherings for praying at mosques, social isolation, self-isolation, social distancing, quarantine, the opportunity to work from home, lockdown, travel restrictions, closure of non-essential services, flight restrictions, continuous disinfection, and sterilization initiatives. The GoB announced a nationwide holiday for 10 days from March 26, 2020 to April 4, 2020 which is recognized as “lockdown.” People were asked to avoid social gatherings and travel and to maintain good hygiene. The government of Bangladesh (GoB) deployed the army to ensure social distancing at that time. People were allowed to do their daily necessary activities and work duties while maintaining social distancing. Due to the lack of coordination and cooperation among various government institutions, non-government organizations, and the community, the GoB was unable to succeed completely in implementing lockdown for fighting against the pandemic [4]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
