Covid-19: Bangladeshi expats’ death toll exceeds 1,000

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Bangladeshi expatriates living in different parts of the world.

While Bangladesh recorded 1,305 deaths until Wednesday, media reports and the Brac Migration Programme said the virus killed at least 1,084 Bangladeshi expatriates until Tuesday (June 16). 

The highest number of deaths was recorded in Saudi Arabia, the leading destination of Bangladeshi migrants. While the total number of deaths there was 1,052 until Tuesday, around 353 of them were Bangladeshis, according to an unofficial estimate. 

The Bangladesh embassy in Saudi Arabia said the number of infections among Bangladeshi migrants stood around 14,000 in the oil-rich country.  

"At least 13,700 Bangladeshis have been infected in Saudi Arabia. Although the number is large, we have to keep in mind that around 22 lakh Bangladeshis live here," Golam Moshi, Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told The Business Standard. 

He said Bangladeshis are careless about the pandemic, which is a key reason behind such a large number of infections. 

Mizanur Rahman, a Bangladeshi worker in Riyadh, said, "Most Bangladeshis live in shared accommodations here. This is the main reason for infections." 

The UK comes second on the list, with 305 deaths, followed by the US where at least 272 Bangladeshis have succumbed to the virus. 

However, there was no confirmed information about how many Bangladeshis have contracted Covid-19 in the US and the UK. 

Ashequn Nabi Chowdhury, press minister of the Bangladesh embassy in the UK, said, "There is no confirmed number of Bangladeshis who have died here. Officially, the death toll was around 107 until June 15." 

He mentioned that the unofficial figure was higher according to the local community and media reports.   

Infections and deaths of Bangladeshi migrants showed an upward trend in the Middle Eastern countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Kuwait. 

Around 50 Bangladeshis have died in the UAE. Additionally, a large number of Bangladeshi migrants have tested positive for Covid-19 in Singapore, and one has died so far.  

Around 1.5 lakh Bangladeshis live in Singapore, according to an unofficial estimate. The number of infected Bangladeshis crossed 25,000 while the total number of cases was 40,969 until Tuesday, said the country's health ministry. 

Congested shared accommodations and lack of awareness are the main reasons behind the massive number of cases among Bangladeshis in those countries. Migrants said maintaining physical distancing is not possible in such living conditions. 

Although the highest number of infections among Bangladeshis was recorded in Singapore, most of them had recovered. Md Rihan, who lives in Woodlands and contracted Covid-19, said, "We 18 people live in a room. It has a row of bunk beds where we sleep. Our beds are just a metre apart from each other. There are four rooms on our floor where we share the toilet, shower etc."

As for other countries, the number of infected Bangladeshis is around 4,000 in Qatar, 4,000 in the UAE, 1,100 in the Maldives, 1,000 in Kuwait, and 700 in Bahrain.