Special Correspondent :
The Finance Ministry has allocated Tk 50 crore emergency funding in favour of Health Ministry to combat the spread of novel coronavirus in the country.
The money will go to supporting public lab testing, isolation and quarantine costs, sanitization of public areas, tracking the virus and awareness building, officials said. The Finance Division under the Ministry of Finance approved the funding on Wednesday in response to the Health Ministry’s appeal for Tk 100 crore ‘special fund’ to fight against coronavirus.
“The government takes the coronavirus seriously. Today, the Finance Ministry approved to the Health Ministry a Tk 50 crore supplemental funding plan to support preparedness and response activities, and to procure much needed equipment and supplies,” a senior Finance Ministry official told The New Nation yesterday confirming the development.
He said the fund was earmarked from the Finance Division’s ‘unexpected expense management’ head tagging several conditions, including stringent compliance of public procurement rules.
The Finance Division has issued an allotment letter citing the conditionalities and areas of expenses of the allocated fund.
“The allocated fund could not be spent any other sector other than the proposed coronavirus or COVID 19,” according to the allotment letter, signed by its Deputy Secretary Dr Md Abu Yousuf.
Over 121,000 people in 108 countries have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 4,377 people have died.
More than 66,000 people have recovered from the illness around the world, according to John Hopkins University.
Bangladesh also confirmed three cases of coronavirus on March 8 amid global outbreak of the mysterious virus, which first emerged in China at the end of last year.
Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments around the world to pull out “all the stops” in the fight against the increasingly pervasive and deadly outbreak of the new coronavirus.
China has already reported 3,258 coronavirus deaths and various Chinese government entities have allocated 110.48 billion yuan ($16bn) to fight against the deadly virus.
The US Senate approved an $8.3 billion emergency supplemental package to respond to the coronavirus outbreak Thursday.
There are now more than 1,000 cases in the United States – eight times more than just a week earlier. At least 32 people have died of the virus nationwide, according to CBS News.
South Korea, which has the most cases of Covid-19 after China, has already announced injecting US$25 billion into measures to contain the virus.
Canada is setting up a 1 billion Canadian dollars ($730 million) fund to help healthcare workers cope up with the increasing number of new coronavirus cases in the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
The measures are the first to be unveiled by the Liberal government in Canada, where 91 people have been diagnosed so far. One person has died.
“The governments around the world have responded to the coronavirus outbreak allocating emergency funds and resources. The government of Bangladesh has also taken measures to deal with the virus,” Dr ABM Abdullah, a prominent physician in the country, told The New Nation.
Commenting on the Tk 50 crore fund allocation, he said, “Initially, it seems to sufficient as spread of the virus is still limited here. I think the government would allocate more fund if any emergency situation arises.”
Dr ABM Abdullah, who was a professor of the Department of Internal Medicine and the dean of Faculty of Medicine at BSMMU, also said the allocated fund will help authorities already fighting to contain the outbreak to gear up their efforts to fight against the coronavirus.
