New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh may be cancelled in view of the spread of the coronavirus. Modi was expected to travel to Dhaka on March 17 at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina to attend the centenary celebrations of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.


During the visit, Prime Minister Modi was expected to assuage Bangladesh's concerns over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the NRC, sources in New Delhi have said.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla was in Bangladesh earlier this month and during his visit he had assured Bangladesh that the updation of the National Register of Citizens will have "no implications" for its people, asserting that it is a process that is "entirely internal" to the country.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Home Minister Khan cancelled their visits to India in December over the situation following the passage of the citizenship bill by Parliament.

Dhaka was also apparently upset following the roll out of the NRC in Assam even though India conveyed to it that the issue was an internal matter of the country.

Three cases of corona in Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Sunday confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus in the country, according to a media report

The affected-- two men and a woman-- were found positive for the coronavirus infection on Saturday, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

"Among them, two of the victims had recently returned from Italy while the other is a relative of one of the returnees," Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of Institue of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said.

39 people infected in India

Five new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Kerala on Sunday. With this, the number of people infected with this virus has increased to 39 in the country. Kerala Health Minister KK Selja confirmed the new cases and said the family behaved irresponsibly. These people did not inform the authorities about their arrival from Italy.

Also Watch: