As many as 170 readymade garments (RMG) workers have tested positive for Covid-19 across the country as of Saturday, as per data provided by Industrial Police.
The infected are from 77 factories under 6 Industrial Police units at Ashulia, Gazipur, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Mymensingh, and Khulna. Excluding the about 800 factories inside Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) area, the other 7,602 factories across the country are under the jurisdiction of Industrial Police.
Of the infected, 102 workers are from 45 of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) factories, and 40 workers are from 14 Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) factories.
Apart from these, two workers are from a Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) factory, 14 from 10 Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) factories, and 12 from other 11 factories across the country.
“Most of them might have been infected when they went home after the general holiday was announced initially,” said Mohammad Amzad Hossain, Superintendent of Police at the Industrial Police Headquarters.
“Community transmission, this is how they carried the virus,” he added.
The infected workers are being treated in different government hospitals under the supervision of a cell formed by BGMEA and BKMEA, he informed.
Furthermore, 500 more workers are currently in isolation.
1,258 RMG factories yet to pay bonus
Out of 7,602 factories under the Industrial Police’s supervision across the country, 6,344 have paid their workers the bonus for Eid-ul-Fitr, according to the Industrial Police.
The other 1,258 factories are yet to pay the bonuses with the Eid just around the corner. Of them, 338 factories are BGMEA members, 85 BKMEA members, 47 BTMA members, 11 BEPZA members, and 777 others.
