The Padma bridge project office has set up a corona unit on its construction site with an estimated fund of Tk 10 million to avoid viral infection.
It is aimed at providing immediate medical care for people working on the country's largest infrastructure scheme styled 'Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project'.
Officials said the medical unit which was installed at the start of the project has been strengthened recently due to a spike in corona cases in Bangladesh.
The project being implemented under the Bangladesh Bridges Authority has arranged 12 isolated beds with oxygen and other support there, they added.
Four doctors have been appointed to work at the unit.
However, the officials said they have not detected any COVID-19 case from among thousands of people working on the site to date.
"Earlier, the medical centre had a part-time doctor, one blood pressure machine and other equipment. Now, we've arranged separate beds with necessary items," said project director M Shafiqul Islam.
The money has been managed from the Tk 15-billion contingency fund kept for the project, he added.
The authorities have already taken measures to keep the engineers of some certain ranks with their families inside the project area to prevent outdoor visits.
When the countrywide lockdown was announced from March 26, the project continued its work at a slow pace.
It placed four more spans on the bridge during the coronavirus lockdown with available workers and staff.
However, the project was affected by coronavirus as its Chinese consultants, engineers and technicians went home during the new year's celebrations.
Building work on the 6.15-kilometre rail-cum-road bridge came to a total halt in January and February.
According to the officials, almost all the Chinese are now working on the project as they joined after completing the quarantine period.
More than 3,000 staff members, including Chinese workers, have been working on both sides to carry the bridge building and river training work.
smunima@yahoo.com