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Zahid Maleque has admitted restarting factories amid lockdown will drive coronavirus infections, but added the government needs to think about livelihoods as well.
Thousands of workers flooded into Dhaka on Saturday and Sunday to join their workplaces as the factories reopened, but few followed health rules.
“They [workers] travelled shoulder-to-shoulder in ferries to return. There was no room at all. Of course this will help increase infections,” the health minister said after an event on Sunday.
“No matter I admit it or not, it wasn’t possible to maintain the health rules there. We hope such situations can be avoided in future.”
Maleque said the government has to take both lives and livelihoods of the people into account, as per a bdnews24.com report.
“Livelihoods are necessary for life. Nevertheless, you need to be alive to work. We’ve to strike a balance between two. The government has to keep everything in mind.”
The health minister said 10 million people will be inoculated from Aug 7 to Aug 14 when the vaccination programme at unions begins.
The event was organised to inaugurate the first-year classes of MBBS for the 2020-21 session at BCPS auditorium.