220 Bangladesh citizens die of COVID-19 abroad

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Cox Gazette April 18, 2020, 11:15 AM

More than 220 expatriate Bangladeshis died of COVID-19 so far in 11 countries till Thursday morning, according to an assessment of Bangladesh embassies and expatriate communities abroad.

Several thousand expatriate Bangladeshis were infected with the virus.

At least 145 Bangladeshis died in the United States while 133 of them died in New York and New Jersey cities.

Bangladesh diplomatic sources said that dozens of families did not disclose the deaths of their family members to the community as the deceased, in many cases, were buried in private graves.

Fifty-two of the deceased were in the United Kingdom, six in Italy, four in Canada, three each in the KSA, Spain and Qatar, one each in Sweden, the UAE, Libya and Gambia.

However, foreign ministry additional secretary Khalilur Rahman told New Age on Monday that some 15 Bangladeshis died from coronavirus in different countries.

About one thousand expatriate Bangladeshis had the disease, he said.

When asked about discrepancies in tally of the diseased and infected people, he said that many countries did not share the citizenship identity information.

Bangladesh high commissioner in Singapore Mustafizur Rahman told New Age that the considerable number of virus infections among the Bangladeshi workers had become a concern.

Most of them are construction workers, who live in congested dormitories and many of them were not conscious about their health, he added.