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Bangladesh factories reopen

By Kristopher Fraser

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After a month of closures to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh garment factories have reopened this week. While it was essential for garment factory workers to return to work to lessen the economic fallout the country was facing from coronavirus, many are worried that the swift return to work will cause a spike in coronavirus cases. An estimated 2000 factories have returned to operations, but are operating with fewers workers than usual and imposing safety guidelines.

Over 4 million workers work in Bangladesh's 4000 factories, and labor activists are saying there are not enough protections in place to secure their safety. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said only about 850 factories have reopened, contradicting estimates, and they are limiting the number of workers on shift.

“The global brands are happy to see the factories opening up as otherwise a whole season would have been lost,” Mohammad Abdur Razzak, secretary of the industry group, said in a statement to Associated Press.

According to Razzak, only 4 of the 105 factories inspectors visited did not meet health and wellness guidelines. Bangladesh factory workers were suffering from temporary unemployment and loss of income, and many were in need of getting back to work to be able to support their families. Bangladesh's factories were also at a crossroads of when to reopen and risk opening too soon before coronavirus infections were curbed or continue losing income and having to eventually let go of employees.

Bangladesh currently has 7,667 confirmed coronavirus cases and 168 deaths from the infection. An average of 500 new cases are being confirmed daily in the country, which has a population of 160 million people. The country's healthcare system could easily become overwhelmed as they only have 25 testing facilities across the entire nation.

Bangladesh
Coronavirus