Prof Anisuzzaman had COVID-19, son says as test result comes after death

National Professor Anisuzzaman had contracted the coronavirus before he died during treatment at a hospital in Dhaka on Thursday.

Professor emeritus of Dhaka University Anisuzzaman addresses the launching ceremony of Bengal 'Bengal Boi', a bookstore of the Bengal Foundation at Dhaka's Dhanmondi. Photo: tanvir ahammed Professor emeritus of Dhaka University Anisuzzaman addresses the launching ceremony of Bengal 'Bengal Boi', a bookstore of the Bengal Foundation at Dhaka's Dhanmondi. Photo: tanvir ahammed

The 83-year-old breathed his last at the Combined Military Hospital in the afternoon.

Aside from a combination of heart, kidney and lung ailments, Prof Anisuzzaman was also suffering from Parkinson's disease and prostate complications.

The doctors also suspected coronavirus as his body temperature rose on Wednesday night, Bangla Academy Director General Habibullah Sirajee told bdnews24.com.

He also said the family were waiting for the decision from doctors before making plans for his funeral and burial.

Prof Anisuzzaman’s son Ananda Zaman later said the medics collected samples from his father in the morning and also after his passing for coronavirus test.

“I came to know some time ago that the result was positive,” Ananda said in the night.

He also said the family had not decided on the last rites of the national professor whose mortal remains were at the hospital.

Ghulam Quddus, the president of the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, the central platform of cultural organisations, said they abandoned plans to pay respects to Prof Anisuzzaman by placing wreaths on his coffin.

Having taught Bengali literature at Dhaka University and Chittagong University, he was a professor emeritus at the University of Dhaka.

He was a visiting fellow at the University of Paris in 1994 and the North Carolina State University in 1995 and a visiting professor at the Viswa Bharati in 2008-09.

Born in 1937 in Calcutta, Prof Anisuzzaman was a recipient of the Bangla Academy award for research (1970) and the Ekushey Padak, the second highest civilian award in Bangladesh, for his contribution to education in 1983.

The Rabindra Bharati also conferred on him an honorary DLitt in 2005 and the University of Calcutta the Sarojini Basu Medal in 2008.

He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago from 1964 to 1965, a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow at the University of London from 1974 to 1975, and was associated with research projects of the United Nations University.

He authored many books in Bangla and English, including Muslim Manas O Bangla Sahitya, Swaruper Sandhane, Purono Bangla Gadya, Factory Correspondence and other Bengali documents in the India Office Library and Records, Creativity, Reality and Identity, Cultural Pluralism and Identity, Religion and Recent History.

Anisuzzaman was a member of the Bangladesh government's Planning Commission during the Liberation War and later, the president of the Bangla Academy. He was also elected a fellow of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. He was a member of the Centre for Policy Dialogue's Board of Trustees, according to the think-tank’s website.