Bangladeshi diplomat in Saudi Araba contracts COVID-19

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A Bangladeshi diplomat in Saudi Arabia has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a Foreign Ministry statement said on Saturday.

According to the statement, the labor counsellor at Bangladesh’s mission in Jeddah contracted COVID-19.

This is the first COVID-19 case at any Bangladeshi mission abroad, Md. Tohidul Islam, a senior information officer at the Foreign Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen urged all staffers at Bangladeshi missions abroad to perform duties with utmost caution.

“I am requesting all employees and officials working in Bangladeshi foreign missions to strictly follow the COVID-19-related health guidelines,” Momen said.

The statement added that the infected official visited Medina last week with the country’s government officials to convince 4,000 Bangladeshis to have coronavirus test.

Currently, nearly 4 million Bangladeshi workers have been engaged in different projects mainly at construction sites in Arab countries -- including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.

In some cases, the workers, especially those who are undocumented, seemingly try to avoid coronavirus test fearing possible complications at jobs.

The coronavirus has taken nine more lives in Bangladesh surging the total death tally to 84, while 306 fresh cases have been recorded over the last 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 2,144, according to government data on Saturday.