Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said that Dhaka North City Corporation kitchen market in Mohakhali will be turned into a makeshift hospital dedicated for novel coronavirus patients. “It will have around 50 ICU beds and above 1000 Covid patients can be tretated at the hospital,” said the minister. Moreover,  three specialized public hospitals -National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and National Institute of Kidney Diseases and Urology, will also open units dedicated for coronavirus patients with 100 beds each. Also read: Bangladesh reports record number of 5,358 new daily Covid cases; 52 deaths He came up with this information while talking to the reporters at a a meeting with the owners of private hospitals this evening. Zahid Maleque reaffirmed that the ministry is doing everything in its power to curb the ‘dramatic’ rise in Covid-19 cases. “Additional 2500 bed will be increased in the hospitals of the capital to treat Covid-19 patients within a very short time. Moreover, central oxygen line has been provided to 90 hospitals,” he said. Also read: Don’t be panicked about possible second wave of Covid-19: Minister The minister also urged people to consider Covid hospitals adjacent to Dhaka city to reduce pressure on the capitals’ hospitals. “There are similar medical facilities in Gazipur, Manikganj and some other districts around Dhaka. Patients can  be admitted to those hospitals,” he said. The minister said that if the authorities fail to do anything about the source of the massive spread of Covid-19 cases, then it would be impossible to bring the situation under control even if they turn the entire Dhaka city into hospitals. Also read: Vaccine drive to continue with AstraZeneca shot: Health Secretary “People are visiting tourist destinations, attending weddings and social events without maintaining any health guidelnes. If this continues, then it will not be possible to curb the spread of Covid-19.” The minister said the steps taken by the health authorities were effective in restricting Covid-19 in Bangladesh which resulted in lower cases in February. But people became lethargic afterwards, which was the main reason for increase in coronavirus cases. The minister expressed his concern  by saying if the situation goes beond the authorities control, then it would be very difficult to bring life back to normal.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday renewed her warning that the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country is imminent and asked all to mask up.

French government has announced night-time curfew from 21:00 to 06:00 in Paris and eight other cities to control the rapid spread of coronavirus second wave in the country.