Road, Transport and Bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said Padma Bridge’s construction work will be hampered if the coronavirus situation does not improve within two months.

There are 980 employees from China. Among them, 332 are now in China. Thirty-three of them have returned.

“Eight of them have been released from quarantine and the rest are being quarantined,” the minister said at a press briefing at the secretariat.

He said the overall progress of the bridge’s work is 75 percent while 86 percent of the main work is complete. Twenty-three spans have been installed and the 24th will be installed on February 10.

The novel coronavirus was first detected in China’s Wuhan city in December.

Deaths from the virus rose to 490 in mainland China on Wednesday while new cases on a Japanese cruise ship, in Hong Kong and in Thailand showed the increasing spread of the virus and renewed attention towards containing it.