Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing has become the first minister in Bangladesh who is confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus amid an escalating outbreak.

The Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) affairs minister is among nine people in Bandarban whose test results came back positive from Cox’s Bazar Medical College lab on Saturday, Bandarban Civil Surgeon Aung Swi Prue Marma said.

He is expected to be taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka today (Sunday) for advanced medical treatment, the civil surgeon said.     

Mostafa Khaled, the acting health director at Chattohgram Division, also confirmed that Ushwe Sing tested positive for coronavirus.

The Awami League leader was elected MP for the first time in 1991. He was a member of the committee that held talks for the CHT Peace Accord before it was signed in 1997.

Ushwe Sing has served as chairman of Rangamati Chattogram Hill Tracts Development Board for two terms.

He has also served the party as an organising secretary of its central committee and whip in parliament.

Ushwe Sing has represented Bandarban in parliament on six occasions. He went on to become State Minister for CHT Affairs in 2014.

After the Awami League formed the government again in 2019, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made him a cabinet minister.