Bidyanondo lends hand in fight against coronavirus

Volunteer organization Bidyanondo Foundation has started distributing hand sanitizers, face masks, and spraying disinfectants in Mirpur of Dhaka in an effort to fight the spread of coronavirus, which has caused the death of more than 9,000 people globally.

The organization is manufacturing face masks and hand sanitizers, noticing that the demand for those products is exceeding the supply.

It has also taken the task of measuring temperature of Muslim devotees at different mosques in the area upon itself. This is to verify if any of them has fever- a key symptom of being infected with coronavirus.Volunteers of the organization are also raising awareness of the virus among the devotees. They are performing the same task in some slums in the capital as well.

Bidyanondo Foundation’s Dhaka office chief Salman Khan Yeasin said their volunteers started the spraying and hand sanitizer distribution campaigns on Tuesday. Anti-germ liquid was sprayed and hand sanitizers were distributed in buses, motorized three-wheelers,and rickshaws. 

The campaigns continued through to Thursday.

The organization has been manufacturing masks since early March. Aside from distributing them in schools and to the underprivileged, the foundation is also selling masks for Tk28 a piece. 

In its official Facebook page, Bidyanondo posted: “Anyone can buy the masks at Tk28. This measure of ours is on humanitarian grounds, not for making money in the ongoing crisis.”

Yeasin said the organization produced some 200 liters of hand sanitizer, but those will be sent for tests to Dhaka University in order to obtain formal approval. 

For its timely efforts, the organization has been receiving appreciation.Many on its Facebook page thanked it, with some making suggestions to better its plans to fight the coronavirus outbreak.