Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set for a high-level meeting with ministers and secretaries of six ministries on Tuesday (Mar 31) before going for a video conference with deputy commissioners and officials of the 64 administrative districts to coordinate efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
According to people familiar with the matter, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Local Government Minister AB Tajul Islam, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain and State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman have been told to attend the meeting.
Secretaries Abdur Rouf Talukder of finance division, Md Ashadul Islam of health ministry, Helal Uddin Ahmed of local government division, Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum of food ministry, Shaikh Yusuf Harun of public administration minister and Md Shah Kamal of disaster management and relief ministry are expected to join the meeting, sources told Bangla Tribune.
The high-level meeting is likely to discuss on extending the general holiday announced until Apr 4 to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed 49 cases of coronavirus with five fatalities, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Monday.
“One more COVID-19 case was detected in the last 24 hours, which takes the total number of positive cases to 49,” IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora told an online media call.
Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll has surged by about 4,000 in a day to 34,005, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
A Reuters tally on Monday puts the number of infected people at more than 720,000 across the world.