First case of Covid-19 infection in Bangladesh Army

A Bangladesh Army major has tested positive for Covid-19, two ranking military officers have independently confirmed to Netra News. This is the first case of a military officer getting infected with the virus in Bangladesh.

“Corona positive — confirmed. [First] case [in] Bangladesh Army,” one of the military officers wrote to Netra News. They also shared the name and other identifying details of the Covid-19 infected officer, which we are not publishing due to privacy concerns. We can, however, say that the infected major is a member of the Army Medical Corps and was until recently on duty at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.

When contacted by Netra News, a spokesperson of the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate (ISPR) said he was not aware of any such case of Covid-19 infection of a member of the Bangladeshi armed forces.

On March 24th, the Bangladesh government deployed the army to assist the district administration in “dealing with the Covid-19 situation.” According to the defence ministry, about 3400 military personnel have been deployed across the country primarily to enforce social distancing but also for preparing lists of people who have tested positive for Covid-19. The troops can be seen patrolling the streets in Dhaka and other cities calling on people to stay indoors and dispersing any crowds.

As of April 7th, 17 people are officially reported to have died from the Covid-19 virus in Bangladesh, with 164 testing positive. It is not clear whether the positive test of the army major has been included in the official figures.●