Bangladesh newspaper sales slump amid coronavirus fears

Newspaper sales have slumped in Dhaka amid the coronavirus outbreak with offices shut and readers avoiding it fearing infections.

The demand for newspapers has decreased gradually over the past 15 days. Sales dropped by about 60 percent on Tuesday in comparison to the daily sales in the period before March 8 when Bangladesh confirmed the first coronavirus case, according to the hawkers’ union.

With the virus fears running deep, some local newspapers outside Dhaka have stopped printing over the past few days.

The Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh, or NOAB, issued a notice in an attempt to dispel fears over virus transmission by newspaper. NOAB insists that newspapers are safe to touch.

But people are trying to avoid touching banknotes, mobile handsets, used helmets on ride-sharing motorbikes and newspapers as a safety precaution.

Most of the Dhaka residents, now marooned by the virus outbreak, say they are relying on online news to keep themselves updated.

Bangladesh reported its first COVID-19 patient on Mar 8. Since then, people began to practise social distancing to prevent the infection from spreading.

The number of newspaper subscribers has dropped gradually since the first coronavirus patient was detected in the country, Mobarak Hossain Tutul, general manager of Dhaka Sangbadpatra Hawkers Bohumukhi Samabay Samity,