Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday said the country is now seeing an upward trend in Covid infections and the government is ready to tackle the situation.

The Minister made this remark while talking to reporters after attending the Annual Performance Agreement signing ceremony as the chief guest at the secretariat.

Zahid said that they held a meeting last week to contain the spread of the virus and gave some directives including wearing masks in public places.

Read:NTAC recommends avoiding public gatherings to fight Covid surge

“We’re requesting everyone to take vaccines and wear masks everywhere including in offices, educational institutions, buses and trains. We hope that the people will pay heed to our call,” he said.

The minister added that although the Covid-19 infection rate was negligible 15 days ago it has started to increase once again.

“The government alone can’t tackle the situation. Rather, they need people’s cooperation to keep the Covid-19 situation under control,” he said.

The Health Minister mentioned that the government has taken decision to vaccinate children against Covid. The vaccines will arrive within July which will enable the government to start a vaccination campaign for children between 5 to 12 years from the end of next month, he added.

Zahid mentioned that the government will take tough measures against those who will not wear mask as directed.

Read:Children aged 5-12 to be vaccinated soon: Health Minister

“Vaccinating everyone and controlling the Covid-19 situation are now important measures. We need to put emphasis on coordinating these measures to make them effective and timely. We were able to control the previous Covid-19 crisis because everyone associated with the health sector had worked putting their lives in danger,” he said.

“We need to fill up the vacant posts and finish the ongoing projects in due time to face the resurgence of Covid-19,” Zahid added.