Disclosure of coronavirus late, alleges BNP

Dhaka, March 10- BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that the government tried to hide the presence of coronavirus in the country, but it disclosed the matter as the foreign guests declined to join Mujib Year celebrations programmes.Speaking at a publication ceremony of two books at the Jatiya Press Club, he urged the government to immediately ensure adequate scanning machines at all the airports in the country alongside creating public awareness to tackle the coronavirus situation.
The BNP leader said people are getting panicked as the deadly coronavirus spread to Bangladesh like many other countries of the world.
“Every country across the globe has become active to check coronavirus. Many countries stopped flights and entrance of people from different infected countries. But our government did nothing in this regard. They also didn’t find any infected case for a long time,” Fakhrul said.
He further said, “They (govt) suddenly found it (coronavirus case). Whether the names of three people came in when foreign guests started declining to arrive here (to join Mujib Year celebrations programme)… I think they tried to hide the matter. Many have a perception that this disease spread here long time ago. It’s now going to be proven correct.”
Fakhrul said their party thinks the government still could not take proper steps to face the coronavirus situation. “Ensure adequate scanning facilities at all the airports, naval ports and land ports. It’s also necessary to raise awareness among people over the matter.”
Besides, he said, hospitals need to be specified for the treatment of this disease so that people can go there for treatment if they contract coronavirus. “We think that it should be taken very seriously by the government.”
Former minister and BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain wrote the two books, ‘Pragati O Satyer Sandhane’ and ‘Mulyabodh O Abakhkhoyer Khandachitra’ published by the Universal Academy.
Fakhrul congratulated Mosharraf for writing the books on time-befitting issues.
BNP standing committee members Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, ex-Dhaka University VC Prof Anwarullah Chowdhury and ex-Jahangirnagar University VC Prof Khandaker Mostahidur Rahman, among others, spoke at the programme with Prof Emajuddin in the chair.
The first three cases of coronavirus in the country were confirmed by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Sunday.
The infected patients include two men and one woman while two of them recently returned home from Italy. They have been kept under quarantine. – UNB