Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam has said Biman may suspend its flight operations to China due to lack of passengers.
He said this during a press briefing at the secretariat on Monday.
“During a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, there was a discussion regarding Coronavirus. In the meeting, the Biman secretary said that although there are four daily flights to China, only 10-12 passengers fly every day to the country (China) due to the virus.”
Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam addresses the press on Monday, February 3, 2020 | Dhaka Tribune
“If this situation continues, the operator may shut down their flights,” Anwarul said.
The Cabinet secretary also said currently there are 171 Bangladeshis in Wuhan.
“They want to come back to Bangladesh but we cannot send our planes and pilots to Wuhan right now, as those pilots and cabin crew, who returned from Wuhan, are not being allowed to enter other countries,” Anwarul added.
He further said: “We are communicating with some Chinese chartered planes to bring back the 171 people back from China.”
Global health emergency
The total number of deaths from the coronavirus epidemic in China rose to 361 as of Monday. The number of new confirmed infections in China rose by 2,829, bringing the total to 17,205, reports Reuters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency.
The virus is believed to have originated late last year in a food market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.
New cases are being reported every day around the world, spurring cuts to travel, outbreaks of anti-China sentiment in some places and a surge in demand for protective face masks.
Medical experts say the rising number of human-to-human transmissions outside China suggests a greater potential for the virus to spread further.
Statistics from China indicate that just over 2% of people infected have died, suggesting that the virus may be less deadly than the coronaviruses behind 2002-2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).