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Dear Editor
We read with interest the editorial by Qiu et al 1 about the psychological distress among the general population in China during the COVID-19 pandemic and policy recommendations. The elderly are more vulnerable to increased mental health problems during COVID-19, which has raised significant challenges for community mental health services.1 2 Older people with comorbid conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases, diabetes and hypertension are more likely to be severely affected and die because of COVID-19, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2.3
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, making it more vulnerable to the rapidly spreading COVID-19. As of 28 May 2020, 38 292 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Bangladesh, including 501 deaths.4 Although only 8% of the total patients with COVID-19 were elderly persons (aged >60 years), they account for almost 42% of total deaths.4 In 2015, there were 12.5 million (7.5% of the total population) older people (aged ≥60 years) in Bangladesh.5 However, the proportion of older people is almost 5% lower than the overall ratio of geriatric people worldwide (ie, about 12.5% or 901 million people globally were aged 60 years or above in 2015).6 Among the older people in Bangladesh, around 53.8% have multicomorbidities,5 making them more vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection.
As SARS-CoV-2 has high transmissibility and is mainly transmitted from person to person,3 to prevent the aggressive and rapid outbreak of the pandemic, the Government of Bangladesh has advised people to stay at home. Therefore, during the COVID-19 outbreak, older people are suffering from lack of social contacts and physical activities. The lack of social connections and the overall situation of the pandemic, including the rapid …