Flood-hit Bangladesh rushes in relief

DHAKA: Bangladesh health and relief workers went to flood-hit areas after authorities relaxed a curfew in six cities including the capital, officials said on Saturday.

The interim government relaxed the curfew from 6 a.m. (0000 GMT) to 11 p.m. (1700 GMT), the home ministry said.

Widespread violence triggered by student unrest prompted officials to impose the curfew in six cities on Wednesday. But the clampdown on dissent severely disrupted the movement of health workers and supplies to flood-hit areas, disaster management officials said. This had led to a jump in the number of people with diarrhoea and over the past 24 hours about 4,000 people contracted the illness. Relaxing the curfew allowed the sick the chance to get to hospital.

“The number of diarrhoea patients, admitted in different hospitals mainly in the city hospitals has increased on Saturday after the curfew was relaxed,” Mohammad Syeed Hossain, a health official told Reuters. reuters

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