India sends 180 tonnes of imported oxygen to Bangladesh amid rising COVID-19 cases

During the Eid holidays, India provided more than 180 tonnes of medical oxygen to Bangladesh under specific arrangements. On Wednesday, three Bangladeshi firms imported oxygen in eleven tanks through the Benapole border station. ICP Petrapole officials in India provided a Green Corridor for Medical Oxygen export because of the importance of this supply of Liquid Oxygen to Bangladeshi hospitals.

Bangladesh will benefit from the oxygen supply

Bangladesh will benefit from the oxygen supply in the fight against COVID-19, which has been spreading fast across the country for several weeks. Despite the four-day Eid Holidays, which began on July 20, emergency oxygen imports continued in accordance with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's directions. The port of Benapole is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week to receive oxygen cargoes.

To enable the supply of oxygen to Bangladesh, a special team comprising Land Port officials, Customs officials, Border Security Force (BSF), and Cost and FREIGHT (CNF) agents were formed. They kept in touch with the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and their Benapole counterparts on a daily basis.

Field level authorities have been given particular instructions, according to Kamlesh Saini, Director, Petrapole Land Port, to ensure that important commodities like Liquefied Medical Oxygen may be cleared rapidly from the Petrapole port.

The Government has ordered a 14-day lockdown from July 23

In response to the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in the country, the Bangladesh Government ordered a 14-day nationwide lockdown on Thursday, which would begin on Friday, July 23rd, and will be in effect until August 5th. During the timeframe of 14 days, the Government mandated strict precautions for its citizens. All offices, industries, clothing factories, and other establishments will stay closed.

According to the government's instruction, the Police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGD), and the Army would maintain a close eye on the highways to ensure that the lockdown is strictly enforced. On Wednesday, the government recorded 7,614 new COVID-19 cases and 173 new deaths, bringing the total number of case tally to 11,36,503 and the death toll to 18,498, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

On Wednesday, the overall number of recovered patients in the country reached 961,044 with 9,704 fresh recoveries. Bangladesh's COVID-19 death rate is now 1.63% with an 84.56% recovery rate.

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