The number of coronavirus infection is on the rise in the industrial areas with most of new cases being found among the apparel workers following the reopening of the factories.
“Very few tested positive for coronavirus (in industrial area) when the garment factories were closed. The figure has risen gradually after the factories reopen,” said Mohammad Sayemul Huda, upazila health officer of Savar.
As many as 57 percent of those tested positive for coronavirus are garment workers in Savar, one the country’s industrial on the outskirts of capital Dhaka.
Sources said coronavirus was first detected in Savar on April 14. Some 17 more tested positive in next 16 days.
The number of infection started rising on April 29 and it rose by four-and-a-half fold in next 12 days.
Some 82 people including 47 apparel workers so far have been infected by coronavirus till Monday.
Some 359 cases of coronavirus were reported from another industrial area Gazipur, a neighborhood of Dhaka, till Monday.
Infection among garment workers is relatively low with only 15 cases has been reported so far.
Officials said they are surveillng in the garment factories.
“We are collecting samples of people suffering from fever, cold, and cough,” said Dr Khairuzzaman, civil surgeon of Gazipur.
They would get a real picture or whether the number of infections is growing in a couple of days, he added.
Worker leaders said factory owners put profit first rather than the workers’ health safety, thus risks the life of 44 lakh RMG workers.
“Workers usually lives in the nearby areas of the factories and they flock together to join their work each day, which may cause a disaster on the safety issue,” said Jolly Talukder, who is the general secretary of Garment Workers Trade Union Center.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) said it would set up more testing labs for coronavirus in the country’s four industrial regions and prepare separate isolation facilities for female patients.
“Residents at a female hostel in Gazipur will be relocated to turn the dormitory into an isolation facility for women workers with Covid-19,” said Arshad Jamal Dipu, vice president of BGMEA.
BGMEA also launched a Coronavirus Control Room for the industrial areas with four committees carrying out the activities.