PM Narendra Modi’s Dhaka visit called off as Bangladesh reports 3 Covid-19 cases

NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi’s 17 March visit to Dhaka for the birth centenary celebrations of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman has been put off, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The development comes as Bangladesh on Sunday reported its first three cases of the COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus.

This is Modi’s second trip abroad that has been deferred due to the coronavirus outbreak. Modi's visit to Bangladesh was announced on Thursday.

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research confirmed that two men and a woman in the country have tested positive and were undergoing treatment in Dhaka.

This led to a rethink on the celebrations surrounding the birth centenary of ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka. According to news reports, prime minister Sheikh Hasina chaired an emergency meeting overseeing the celebrations of “Mujib Barsha” (Year of Mujib) over the next 12 months and the meeting ended with the decision to scale down the events – particularly the one on 17 March which would have marked the start of the year-long celebrations, to which Modi invited.

New Delhi, however, is said to be in touch with Dhaka to decide if Modi could take part in the scaled down event via video link.

Last week, India had announced that Modi will not travel to Brussels for the summit between India and the European Union, scheduled for 14 March, as both sides decided to postpone the meeting to a later date in view of the Covid-19 outbreak worldwide.

Meanwhile, external Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived on a surprise visit to Kashmir on Monday to meet relatives of people, including students, who are stranded in Iran.

This follows Jaishankar in a Twitter post on Sunday saying that efforts were underway to ensure the return of Indians from Iran.

"Efforts underway for return of Indian pilgrims in Qom #Iran. Screening process has started & follow up arrangements are being discussed with Iranian authorities. This is top priority & Embassy team @india_in_iran is fully engaged on this," Jaishankar said in a post on Twitter.

"Our Emb @India_in_Iran continues to maintain close contact with Indian fishermen in #Iran. No case of #COVID19 reported among them. Ensuring that they have adequate supplies. Will continue to monitor their welfare," he said in another post.

The relatives of those stranded demanded that the Centre airlift them immediately, officials said.

More than 110,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and over 3,800 have died, according to a Reuters tally of government announcements. Iran's health ministry,in a TV announcement on Sunday, said 194 people have died from the novel coronavirus and 6,566 were infected.