Coronavirus: Bangladesh defends readiness after leaked UN report warns 2 million could die

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam said social distancing policies and Chinese medical supplies will help in the fight

But the country’s manufacturing industry is suffering, including firms owned by ethnic Chinese businessmen

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A policeman urges residents not to come out of their homes in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last week. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00pm, 1 Apr 2020Updated: 9:27pm, 1 Apr 2020

The United Nations’ warning that up to two million people could die of coronavirus in Bangladesh was based on the assumption that no steps were being taken to contain the spread, a senior official from the country said, stressing that a raft of measures are already in place.

Bangladesh has implemented social distancing policies; shut down malls, shops and restaurants; and suspended all domestic and international flights, except flights to and from China, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam told This Week In Asia, adding that the country was working closely with others to fight the pandemic and had received medical supplies from China and India.

“[The UN report] was based on the assumption of ‘no interventions’,” he said. “As you can very well imagine we have taken numerous measures.”

As of Tuesday, Bangladesh had confirmed 51 cases of Covid-19 in the country of 160 million people, with five deaths.

However, these relatively low numbers have done little to quell mounting fears that the pandemic will batter the country’s economy, with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association saying on Monday that US$3 billion of garment orders have been cancelled or put on hold across the nation’s factories.

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