Three Shariatpur lawmakers contract Covid-19, skip Padma Bridge opening

(L toR) AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem, Md Iqbal Hossain and Nahim Razzaq

Three lawmakers of Awami League from Shariatpur district on Saturday skipped the Padma Bridge inaugural ceremony and the rally attended by prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the district’s Shibchar after they contracted Covid-19.

The lawmakers are Md Iqbal Hossain of Shariatpur-1 constituency, deputy minister for water resources AKM Enamul Hoque Shameem of Shariatpur-2 and Nahim Razzaq of Shariatpur-3 constituency.

Besides, Monir Chowdhury, administrator of Madaripur district council, and Anal Kumar Dey, general secretary of Awami League’s Shariatpur district unit, also contracted Covid-19.

According to the party sources, since these lawmakers and the party leaders were supposed to share the stage with prime minister at the rally in Shibchar, they underwent Covid-19 testing by the health division 72 hours before the event. On Friday, they found to be contracted Covid-19.

Deputy minister Enamul Hoque Shameem disclosed in Facebook page on Saturday that he was infected with coronavirus.

While addressing the prime minister’s rally, Shariatpur zila parishad administrator and Awami League’s Shariatpur district president Sabedur Rahman informed the party men of three lawmaker and two party leaders getting infected with Covid-19. Sabedur Rahman requested all to pray for their recovery.

Speaking to Prothom Alo over mobile phone, Enamul Hoque Shameem said prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Padma Bridge. Iqbal Hossain, Nahim Razzaq and I had been working for a month to make the event a success.

They even worked until Friday afternoon and unfortunately, test result found them to be positive for Covid-19 on the night. So, they could not join the celebration, he added.