Prof Anisuzzaman was COVID-19 positive, test result shows

National professor Anisuzzaman, who died on Thursday afternoon, was infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

His samples were collected for COVID-19 test after his death and they came positive at night, his younger brother Akhteruzzaman told Prothom Alo.

Akhteruzzaman said the hospital authorities informed them that Anisuzzaman had been tested COVID-19 positive.

He said they are trying to complete his burial within 10 in the morning.

Professor Anisuzzaman breathed his last around 4:55pm at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka on Thursday.

He was 83.

Prof Anisuzzaman was admitted to the Universal Cardiac Hospital in the capital city on 29 April with various health complications, his family members said.

As his condition deteriorated, he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital on 2 May, they added.

Professor Anisuzzaman was shifted to the CMH from Universal Cardiac Hospital after deterioration of his health condition on 10 May.

Anisuzzaman is an eminent educator, writer and professor emeritus of Bangla language and literature department at Dhaka University.

Born on 18 February 1937 in Basirhat of 24-Pargana district in West Bengal of British India, Anisuzzaman participated in the Language Movement, the 1969 Mass Upsurge and the Liberation War.

After the independence, he became a member of the National Education Commission with Kudrat-E-Khuda as its chief.