Bangladesh is preparing to tackle a possible second wave of Corona infections even as COVID 19 death toll in the country crossed 5000 as on Tuesday.

The Cabinet Secretary of Bangladesh Khandekar Anwarul Islam told media in Dhaka on Tuesday that the government is planning to launch a massive awareness programme before the emergence of the second wave of COVID 19 infections.

Cabinet Division has issued directives to ministries to devise their work plan in the next two weeks to deal with the possible next wave of coronavirus infection.

He, however, clarified that it is not certain that the second wave is coming but the country is making preparations to meet any such eventuality. The Cabinet Secretary also said that the government has no plan to impose another lockdown but it will observe the situation before taking any decision.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had also asked everyone to be prepared to tackle a second wave of Corona in the winter months.

In the meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 28 deaths and 1557 new infections on Tuesday taking the death toll to 5007 and the total number of infections to 3,52,178.

Over the last few weeks, the recoveries have been higher than the new cases of Coronavirus infection bringing down the number of active cases to 86,925.

The recovery rate in Bangladesh has slowly gone above 74 percent.

Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) has approved a 200 million dollar loan for Bangladesh to improve access to safe water and sanitation services in the rural areas of the country. The Bangladesh Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project will help 6 lakh people to have access to clean water through piped water schemes in rural areas.

According to a Press Release issued by the World Bank on Friday, the project will also provide sanitation services to over 3.6 million rural people in Bangladesh.

The WB said that the project will help prevent diseases and protect from pandemics like COVID 19 by providing better access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities at homes and in public places.

World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon said that the project will provide clean water and sanitation services that will reduce diarrheal diseases, improve nutrition, health and reduce stunting among children under five.

The project will also help in setting up more than 2500 handwashing stations in public places with overhead tanks for running water and sanitation facilities. To ensure the quality and sustainability of piped water scheme and faecal sludge management, the project will also train local entrepreneurs.

The 30-year concessional credit has a five year grace period. It comes from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA program totalling over USD 13.5 billion.