Make people wear mask

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in yesterday's cabinet meeting asked the authorities concerned to make people wear facemasks outside home to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

"The prime minister has asked them to increase awareness campaign and make people use masks," said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while replying to a query at a press briefing at the secretariat after the cabinet meeting.

"If we do not use masks, no vaccines or medicines would be fruitful in protecting us," he said.

Hasina joined the meeting virtually from the Gono Bhaban while others took part from the secretariat.

The cabinet secretary said the issue of wearing masks was prominently discussed in the meeting. Yesterday, divisional commissioners said they were imposing fines on a large number of people who go outside without masks. Several thousand people had already been fined, he added.

"We've been told to observe the situation for one more week. After that, if people fail to be alert, we will ask them [commissioners] to motivate them more. Then we'll have to go for tougher punishment [for not wearing masks]."

The cabinet secretary said they operated mobile courts in the capital's 37 places to make sure people use facemasks outside home.

Asked whether people would be sent to jail for defying the government's directive in this regard, he said, "Let's see. The amount of fine may be increased. Now we're imposing a fine of Tk 500 to 1,000. It could be increased to Tk 5,000."

Mobile courts will take masks with them to give those to people after finning them for not wearing them, he said.   

Saying that the number of patients at hospitals in Dhaka has increased in the last one week, Anwarul said, "It seems that the Covid-19 cases are on the rise."

Meanwhile, the cabinet approved the draft of the "Bangladesh Film Artists' Welfare Trust Act, 2020" to ensure overall welfare of actors and actresses of the country's film industry and enhance their professional excellence. 

According to the act, there will be a board chaired by the information minister. The board will look after the benefits of artists.

To get the benefits, artists need to get registered. There is an Artists Welfare Trust under the culture affairs ministry. Artists who are registered with the Artists Welfare Trust will not be able to get benefits from the proposed Bangladesh Film Industry Welfare Trust.

Three other issues -- future plans as well as the steps undertaken by the agriculture ministry to tackle the possible second wave of Covid-19, the steps taken by the disaster management and relief ministry during the pandemic and the update of the foreign aid -- were also discussed at the meeting, the secretary said.

He said the agriculture ministry has taken 97 short, medium and-long term plans to increase production, development of marketing of agricultural products and ensure fair price to tackle the impact of Covid-19 and other natural disasters.

Anwarul added that the disaster management ministry has taken various safety net programmes to deal with the impact of Covid-19 and cyclone Amphan.

Under the programmes, it distributed more than 2.35 lakh tonnes of rice, over Tk 100 crore in cash and spent more than Tk 29 crore for baby food. 

Another Tk 3.80 crore was distributed for cattle fodder. It also distributed 5,900 bundles of tin and Tk 1.77 crore for building houses.

The ministry gave another 1.68 lakh tonnes of VGF rice to over 10 lakh families.