The Health Minister Zahid Malik has said the reopening of the economy is giving rise to coronavirus infections as the officially confirmed daily cases jumped by a record 786 on Tuesday.
He noted the leap in the number of new patients at a news conference after a meeting of the technical committee to battle the epidemic on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.
“The number of cases is increasing slightly. We had seen there were 400-500 new cases daily for 8-10 days. But it has now crossed 600, and today the number was over 700,” he said.
“It’s natural that infections will rise along with the increased movement of people if we reopen the malls, garment factories and shops,” he added.
The health minister defended the decision to reopen the economy. Saving lives and livelihoods must be done together, he said.
“But the health ministry will try to contain the outbreak. Our duty is to arrange proper treatment of the patients in proper places,” Zahid said.
The technical committee advised on how to stop the rise in the rate of infection and inspire the medical workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 fight, he said.
The committee will give advice on the government decision to allow the shopping malls to reopen on May 10, he said. It will also advise the authorities on possible exodus of people during Eid-ul-Fitr, according to the minister.
It asked the government to check why doctors were being infected the most, he said.
The minister also said his ministry was working on recruitment of fourth class employees following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instructions.
