BNP’s Fakhrul accuses govt of hiding coronavirus cases

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has accused the government of hiding information about coronavirus cases ahead of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary celebrations.

“The government was long silent on the coronavirus and the cases of infections were discovered only yesterday. I don’t know for sure but it seems the government disclosed the cases only after foreign delegates expressed unwillingness to visit Bangladesh at this moment,” Fakhrul alleged at an event in Dhaka on Monday.

The BNP leader also claimed that the government did not take sufficient measures to cope with the possible outbreak of the deadly virus. 

“It seems to me that the cases were detected in Bangladesh much earlier but the government tried to hide the information,” he said.

The government’s disease control agency confirmed first three coronavirus cases on Sunday: two of them returned from Italy and the third was from the family of one of the infected persons.

Italy has been hit worse by the virus than any other European country and imposed a virtual lockdown on the northern region of Lombardy and parts of neighbouring Veneto.