Mistakes were made, lessons were learned
March 8, 2020

First case reported in Bangladesh.

March 18, 2020

First death reported in Bangladesh.

My elder sister in Australia made a strong appeal to me: “Please be especially careful. Need to remember that you had bronchial pneumonia when you were a few months old and spent a month in an 'oxygen tent.' 

“That means you have a pre-existing condition so you have to be extra careful,” she added, to which I stupidly retorted: “Despite Dhaka’s poor air quality, I am fine.”

My sister’s warning reminded me that when growing up in London in the 1950s before the Clean Air Act of 1956, every winter I was bedridden as a result of lung problems due to the famous London smog, a toxic mixture of smoke and fog.