Rashidul Hasan

The government has suspended all hajj activities following lukewarm response from intended hajis and advice from Saudi Arabia amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus fallout and slumping oil prices may lead to the deportation of up to 10 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers from Saudi Arabia in the next three to five years, according to the Bangladesh mission there.

Sonali Bank has approved a loan of Tk 1,000 crore to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which sought Tk 1,500 from the state-owned bank as it was reeling from a fund crisis due to ongoing global travel restrictions thanks to Covid-19 pandemic.

Allowing Bangladeshis returning from abroad, especially the Middle East, to go into self-quarantine poses a big risk for public health. To avert that, the authorities concerned should arrange institutional quarantine facilities for the returnees and make it mandatory, recommended experts.

The government is likely to extend the ongoing shutdown for most public and private offices until May 16.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is working to resume operations of domestic and international flights on a limited scale after May 8 if the coronavirus situation improves or remains steady by then.

Thousands of garment workers yesterday returned to work in industrial belts in Dhaka and elsewhere amid the nationwide shutdown, raising fears of a rapid spread of the novel coronavirus.

The government yesterday decided to waive the demurrage fees on the storage of imported raw materials of garment items piled up at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) warehouse.

The government of Bahrain this month declared an amnesty programme for undocumented migrant workers to get regularised. This should come as good news for undocumented Bangladeshi workers in the Gulf nation, about 30,000 of whom are expected to avail the programme which runs until December 31 this year.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has sought a Tk 1,500 crore loan from the state-owned Sonali Bank as the national flag carrier has been reeling from a severe cash crunch amid global travel restrictions owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The government yesterday extended the ongoing shutdown of most of the public and private offices till May 5 in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Although the state-owned Bangladesh Television has started broadcasting in Middle East and North Africa recently on a pilot basis, private TV channels from Bangladedsh are still out of reach in the regions, limiting some 70 lakh Bangladeshi migrants from knowing about their homeland’s present situation amid coronavirus outbreak.

With several thousand Bangladeshis passing days in hardship in stranded situations in India for over a month, the government yesterday urged Bangladeshi citizens to have patience, assuring them of their gradual repatriation after bringing back patients from South India.

Farmers in the haor region of Sylhet may have to count losses due to damages by flash floods, forecast for later this week, right at the beginning of boro harvest.

Irregularities in distribution of subsidised food items among the poor continue mainly due to political interference in selection of dealers though the government has apparently taken a tougher stance to stop such malpractices amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The logistics and freight forwarding business in Bangladesh has been devastated by the global coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a nosedive in transportation of goods by land, air and sea.

The US-Bangla Airlines will operate eight special flights on Chennai-Dhaka and Kolkata-Dhaka routes from April 20 to bring back over 1,000 stranded Bangladeshis who went there for treatment.

While most expecting fathers dream of holding their child for the first time to feel the joy of holding his future in his arms, the reality was very different for one Shariful Islam.

A total of 144 Bangladeshis -- including 13 cabin crew -- who remained stranded in Saudi Arabia (KSA) for over a month following suspension of air communication between Dhaka and Riyadh due to global outbreak of Covid-19, returned to Dhaka last night.

As evening falls, an eerie silence now replaces the usual cacophony of honking buses, hawkers shouting out their wares, and music blaring from sidewalk shops at Gabtoli Bus Terminal.