‘Can’t let people starve’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government's decision to lift lockdown restrictions, amid a rampant coronavirus epidemic, was aimed at protecting people's livelihoods and enable them to ride out the economic crisis.

“The reality is we can’t let people die from starvation because of fears over the coronavirus. We have to take steps to let them live,” Hasina said in parliament on Sunday.

“Some areas are showing higher rates of infection. We are enforcing lockdowns in those areas to curb the contagion,” she added.

The PM spoke during a discussion in parliament on a condolence motion over the deaths of Awami League stalwart Mohammed Nasim and State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.

Nasim lost the battle for his life in hospital care on Jun 13 after suffering a stroke during treatment for COVID-19.

State Minister Abdullah fell ill at his residence and was taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka where he breathed his last at 11:45 on Saturday.

While Abdullah reportedly suffered a heart attack before his death, his coronavirus test results came back positive on Sunday.

Hasina lamented the fact that the novel coronavirus struck at a time when the country was making great progress in alleviating poverty.

“An unprecedented fear has gripped the whole world over this invisible threat. This is the strange thing, we have never encountered such circumstances before,” PM said, adding that she was attending the parliamentary session despite being advised not to.

“I told them we lost members of our Awami League family, a parliament member and another cabinet member. How could I not go?”

Pointing out that COVID-19 caused similar sufferings in all other countries, including the developed ones, Hasina continued, “We are trying our best to make people follow the health directives as a defence against this deadly disease. This infection must not be allowed to spread.”