The government of Bangladesh has announced that it will charge a fee for the COVID 19 testing done at the government facilities to avoid unnecessary tests.

The Ministry of Health and family welfare issued a notification fixing the rate at 200 Taka for samples given at the collection booth and Taka 500 for samples collected from home. Till now, the COVID-19 testing at government hospitals was being done free.

In the meanwhile Coronavirus registered a fresh high on Monday with 4014 positive cases being reported from the country. Bangladesh also reported 45 deaths and 2053 recoveries over the same period. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the death toll in the country has gone up to 1783 and the number of people infected by Coronavirus is now 1,41,801. The country has tested a total of 7,48, 034 samples since March 8 when the first Corona positive case was detected in Bangladesh.

Corona claimed another high profile victim with the Defence Secretary of Bangladesh Mohsin Chowdhury succumbing to Coronavirus in Dhaka on Monday.

Expressing the resolve to fight Coronavirus, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced in Parliament on Monday that the government will soon be recruiting 2000 more doctors and 4000 nurses to strengthen the COVID-19 treatment facility in the country.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has said that cooperation between India and Bangladesh can help overcome the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking at a Digital Conference on the topic 'Doing business with Bangladesh' organised by CII on Monday, he said that since 2014 the bilateral relation with Bangladesh has seen major developments like the ratification of land boundary agreement, settlement of maritime boundary and other agreements on connectivity.

India has also implemented the agreement to supply 1076 MW of power to Bangladesh and issued 7.4 million visas to Bangladesh nationals.

In a tweet, the Minister said that India Bangladesh cooperation stands out as an example for the region. He said that Bangladesh is the largest trading partner of India in South Asia. It is also the largest development partner with a project portfolio of dollar 8 billion at uniquely concessional terms.

High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das said that the multimodal connectivity between the two countries provides opportunity to elevate business ties. She noted that Bangladesh railways had increased its monthly allocation of freight trains to Indian railways by approximately thirty-three percent for the month of June which was very positive.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran, mentioned that the India Bangladesh bilateral relationship today touches almost every aspect of activity including political, trade, investment, security, border, water management, power, cultural exchanges and others.

Speaking at the Conference, Mr Sirazul Islam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) pointed out that Energy, Transport and Logistics were emerging as promising sectors for India Bangladesh economic cooperation.