China to provide medical supplies to Bangladesh for COVID-19 fight

The Chinese Embassy in Dhaka said China will provide Bangladesh with medical supplies to help fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The Chinese Embassy informed relevant ministries of the Bangladeshi government that China has decided to donate emergency anti-epidemic medical supplies including a large number of test kits," the embassy said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh on Wednesday reported the country's first death related to the COVID-19, being one of the 14 confirmed cases.

Meerjady Sabrina Flora, head of the country's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) under the Health Ministry, told a press briefing that the deceased man is a Dhaka resident in his 70s.

The victim, who was hospitalized prior to his death on Wednesday, had "underlying medical conditions" and was believed to have been infected by someone who had recently returned from abroad, the IEDCR chief said.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)