High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das today handed over 30,000 surgical masks and 15,000 head-covers as assistance to the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A.K.Abdul Momen in Dhaka. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the High Commission of India said that the assistance is intended to support Bangladesh in its efforts to fight the spread of Corona virus in the country.

The assistance comes in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conferencing with the leaders of SAARC countries on March 15 to evolve a collaborative strategy against Corona pandemic in the South Asian region. Prime Minister Modi had also called for setting up SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund to combat the Corona virus with an initial contribution of 10 million dollars by India.

Subsequently, all other countries of the SAARC region except Pakistan contributed to the fund which is now worth 18.3 million dollars. India and Bangladesh are making preparations to hold a video conference between medical professionals and other stake holders of the two countries for specific measures  to be taken  and for exchanging best practices