BANGLADESH on Wednesday (1) confirmed another death from the novel coronavirus, taking the death toll in the country to six while the number of positive cases rose to 54 with health authorities expressing fear that community level transmission might have begun on a limited scale.
The country has already extended a nationwide shutdown until April 11 to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The tally of infections in Bangladesh rose to 54 after three more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, said Health Minister Zahid Malik on Wednesday.
Among the infected cases, 26 have recovered and returned home, the minister told the bdnews.
“We are constantly trying to improve the quality of our healthcare services. In the meantime, we are working on setting up about 500 ventilators at government hospitals,” Zahid said in an online media briefing.
“Another 300 ventilators are being imported. There are about 700 ventilators across private hospitals,” he added.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said that offices and industries could resume work in a limited scale.
As per reports, a huge number of people on crowded buses, ferries and trains rushed to their villages as soon as the lockdown was announced on Friday last.
And there are chances that the virus could spread if they return back en masse on April 4.
The prime minister directed the officials not to hold any public programmes marking the upcoming Bengali New Year (April 14) and also asked people to scrap their New Year festivities to avoid mass gatherings.
