SINGAPORE — Five Bangladeshi workers contracting the Covid-19 virus was such big news in Bangladesh that many of their countrymen received calls from worried family members, coaxing them to stop working and return home where it remains coronavirus-free.

Concerns grew after the Bangladesh High Commission here confirmed on Friday (Feb 21) that one of the workers – a 39-year-old – is in a very critical state, having already suffered from respiratory and kidney problems before being infected.

Mr Jahid Md, 26, said: “My family had pushed me to come back but I said I am okay… They see the news on TV, they see Bangladeshi people getting the virus with one going to die. My mother and father watch until they are scared.”

But the Bangladeshi man said he had managed to allay his parents’ worries by telling them that even if he catches the virus, the Singapore government will “take care of him”.

“If I have the virus, Bangladesh won’t know what to do with me. Bangladesh won’t have proper treatment. Singapore has proper treatment,” he told TODAY.

So far, he felt his employer and the government here have reacted well to the situation.

For instance, after the first cases were discovered at The Leo dormitory in Kaki Bukit, his employer, an air-conditioner maintenance company, gave the workers three days’ paid leave, during which they were required to check their temperatures every two hours.

WHY PEOPLE IN BANGLADESH ARE WORRIED

Mr Jahid believes that the alarm back home could have been due to sensationalist reports or fake news.

One fake article being circulated that he came across claimed that as many as 16 million people had died from the virus, he said.

Another Bangladeshi, 26-year-old maintenance technician Islam Zohirul, usually receives calls from his parents about once a week.

But from the onset of the news of the first case involving a Bangladeshi worker in Singapore, his parents had called him on three to four consecutive days to check on him and coax him to be more careful when going out.

“Those with wife and children will be more scared and pressurised (to return),” he said.

Mr Atiqul Islam, a Bangladeshi who works in construction, said his wife and parents had been persuading him to return home.

“They are scared because in Bangladesh, there is no virus,” said the 34-year-old with a three-year-old son back home.

He had to repeatedly assure them that the Singapore government “can take care of things” and “control the situation” to get them to not worry excessively, he said.

STAYING INDOORS

Some workers had felt the need to scale back on their activities and stay indoors.

Mr Mithon, 26, a Bangladeshi metal works worker who goes by only one name, said he had chosen to stick to his place of employment where he lives nearby, even during days off.

His personal precautions are to “wash hands and not go to market areas or places with many people”, he said.

While the fear was more palpable among Bangladeshi families, some Indian workers are also getting a flood of concerned calls and messages from their family members.

Married man Prabakaran Arivumani, 32, from Tamil Nadu, India, had felt a greater weight on his shoulders to stay virus-free for his family. He has a one-year-old son.

He is only appeased by the advice of his 56-year-old father who worked in Singapore during the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2003.

“My father (who is now back in India) taught me how to handle (the crisis),” he said. “Don’t go to crowded public places. Don’t eat non-veg dishes (meat).”

His father has also sent an ayurvedic remedy called Nilavembu Kudineer to help him fend off the virus. The herbal concoction, to be taken once a week, was said to be effective against dengue and chikungunya viruses.

Mr Prabakaran had since been encouraging his roommates and work mates to take the medicine to protect themselves as well.

Mr Senthil Kaligan, 37, and Mr Sivamoorthy Kalidass, 33, are not heading anywhere in Singapore without a mask, even when they are buying groceries at a stall near their dormitory.

This is as the sole breadwinners feel a responsibility for their worried families back home.

Mr Senthil has two children aged 13 and 15, while Mr Sivamoorthy has a one-year-old son.

Similarly, Mr Senthil’s mother had been persuading him to return home, saying that Singapore is now “dangerous”, especially as he is a maintenance worker at the Singapore General Hospital.

But he told her that there is no major cause for concern as the virus is not spreading widely, he said.