Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said the government will consider lockdown in some vulnerable areas of the country if the coronavirus situation turns worse in the upcoming days.

The minister came up with the remarks while talking to reporters at the secretariat.

“Like China, Bangladesh will also go for lockdown in some areas, if necessary. Larger number of expatriates returned to Madaripur and Faridpur districts, we’ll consider lockdown these areas, if needed,” he said.

“More than 5000 people are currently in quarantine across the country…action will be taken if they try to violate the quarantine rule,” he said.

The government has selected some hospitals and institutions where 2,000 beds will be installed for isolating people having coronavirus symptoms, the minister stated.

Besides, Bangladesh army members have been preparing Biswa Ijtema ground for quarantining suspected corona patients and their treatment, he added.
 
“We don’t need to find out the returnees of January and February but we’ve made a list of returnees who’ve returned home in March…they’ll be kept in quarantine,” Maleque said.

The government is going to procure 1 lakh coronavirus testing kits and all necessary measures have been taken for the safety of physicians, he said.

Holidays of all staff and employees of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have been cancelled, he said adding that the government will also ban flights from the United Kingdom within a day or two.

Meanwhile, four more people were tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country on Thursday, raising the total number of corona cases to 18. Besides, the authorities confirmed the first death from coronavirus in the country on Wednesday,  

The death toll from coronavirus or Covid-19 reached 8,967 globally on Thursday.

It has so far infected 219,240 people around the world, according to worldometer. Of them, 124,528 are currently being treated with 6,815 in serious or critical condition.

BK