Turning down the BNP’s allegation that the government is pushing the people towards death by relaxing lockdown, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said BNP leaders don’t think of the wellbeing of working people.
“It seems that they (BNP leaders) don’t think about the crores of toiling masses . . . for that reason, they (BNP leaders) can easily talk about shutting down of everything or even imposing curfew . . . We should think about the crores of working people,” he told reporters at his office at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Sunday.
The minister said death rate in the country is less than in the USA, the European countries and even in neighbouring countries – India and Pakistan. This has only been possible for the pragmatic and time-befitting steps taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
In the United States, where healthcare and economic systems and management are much better, there about 6 percent of total diagnosed patients are dying, he said.
“The death rate in Belgium is 15 percent while 14 percent in Britain, 3.2 percent in India and over 2 percent in Pakistan. But the death rate in Bangladesh is 1.35 percent. The death rate could have increased, if the health service system was bad,” said Hasan, also Awami League (AL) joint general secretary.
“I want to urge BNP leaders to look into the data on coronavirus situation of other countries even in India and Pakistan,” he said.
The minister said there is no country in world which has been free from coronavirus. “This is a global catastrophe, we want to deal with this situation with the cooperation of all,” he added.
Hasan said the Prime Minister is dealing with the situation to protect human health and save lives, at the same time in a developing country of 170 million of people like Bangladesh, all activities have been shut down for more than two months.
The food assistance is being provided (to the poor) for two months, he said, adding about 70 million people in the country have come under the assistance of the government in various ways.
Hasan said Bangabandhu’s worthy daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is currently conducting the largest ever relief operation in the history of the country.
“About 70 million people of the country have already come under the government’s assistance programme in various ways. Such a big incident never happened in the history of Bangladesh,” he added.
I do not know whether such kind of the relief operation has taken place in any of the neighboring countries,” he added.
“Due to such a large and well-planned relief operation led by the Prime Minister, not a single people in the country died from starvation by the grace of the Almighty,” he added.
Hasan said many countries have started economic activities as no country can afford lockdown for long. Many developed states like European countries have started their economic activities, even in India, they opened the public transport including train, he added.
He said, “My protection is in my own hand. We should maintain all health code including social distancing. We should avoid all types of gatherings.”