BKMEA asks factories to close until April 4

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) has asked all its member factories to close until April 4 aims to protect the country and people from infection of the novel coronavirus.

"In this moment, our main goal is to save the country and its people from coronavirus. Indutry will survive if people live, and if industry lives, the country will become enriched, that's why the government closed all establishments."

"So, BKMEA decided to keep its all member factories closed from March 25 to April 4," said the organization's chief and lawmaker AKM Salim Osman in a press release on Friday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced a big special incentive package to protect export-oriented indutry from economic recession caused by the deadly virus.

"In this backdrop, in line with the government decision of entities closure, all knitwear factories who have BKMEA membership were instructed to shut down until April 4," Salim adeed.

In BKMEA instructions, the businessman also asked the workers to stay in their present places during the vacation.

"Factory owners will make them (labourers) understand that this is not Eid or any other festival. So, they should stay where they are now," he also said. 

Earlier on Friday, the country's appex trade body, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), advised its members to close the factories to stem the coronavirus spread. 

Bangladesh on March 8 reported its first cases of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, 48 people were infected with the epidemic, and of them five died.

The deadly virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 31 last year. Since then, it kept spread to newer counries. 

As of Friday, the new virus spread to 199 countries and territories, killing 24,368 people and infecting 542,360 across the globe, according to Worldometer, a website which compiles number of new coronavirus cases and deaths from it.