China will hand over medical equipment related to coronavirus to Bangladesh on March 26, the 49th Independence Day of the country.
"As it pledged, China will hand over 10,000 testing kits, 10,000 protective gowns and 1,000 infrared thermometers on our Independence Day as gift," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said in a video message to journalists on Tuesday.
"Two days later, China will hand over 15,000 respiratory masks called N-95," he said.
Besides, Momen said that Chinese medical equipment from other sources will be available to our businessmen on Wednesday.
Efforts are on to procure medical equipment from other countries as well, he said.
The National Board of Revenue has already issued a notification so that the imported equipment could be released without any delay, he added.
The foreign minister said that the effect of coronavirus has hit the country's readymade garment (RMG) sector hard.
Quoting BGMEA, he said that orders worth about $2 billion are at risk and it is feared that thousands of jobs in the RMG sector will be lost.
In this regard, Dr Momen said that the government has communicated with the European Union and the United States for minimising the impact.
He also expressed fear that the flow of remittance may be affected due to the worsening situation due to coronavirus.
