Bangladesh police introduce yoga course for officials to help relieve stress and boost immunity

Bangladesh police have introduced yoga course for its officials to help them relieve stress and boost immunity against the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of 24 security personnel and infected 7,000 others.

Bangladesh police have introduced a yoga course for its officials to help them relieve stress and boost immunity against the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of 24 security personnel and infected 7,000 others. As many as 300 members of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Diplomatic Security Division have already undergone yoga training in four courses, chancery division deputy commissioner Ashraful Islam said. "We launched the yoga training program for the unit personnel on June 7," he said.

Islam said the initiative to introduce yoga for police personnel was taken to boost their spirit, moral, and stamina and to help them relieve stress during the COVID-19 crisis, the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported. The initiative is aimed at imparting yoga training to all the 1,000 police personnel of DMP, he said.

The officials, Islam said, took the training as an indoor sport, which yielded encouraging results to boost their mental health alongside physical fitness. Until the introduction of the yoga course, a number of policemen were suffering from insomnia and aversion to food amid fears that the COVID-19 could infect them or their family members. This affected their life in the barrack as well as personal and professional lives, he said. "The yoga sessions encouraged them to do their jobs in a cheerful mind with extra stamina," the deputy commissioner said.

According to police headquarters spokesperson A K M Kamrul Ahsan, the coronavirus has so far killed 27 policemen and infected 7,000 others in Bangladesh. As many as 4,000 police personnel were also recovered and most of them have rejoined their duty, he said. Leading medicine expert and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's personal physician Dr. A B M Abdullah appreciated the initiative, saying that motivational exercises like yoga could develop one's immune system boosting the mental strength, which is crucial to prevent coronavirus infections as well. "The mental strength is very important for all at the moment. The whole world is now facing a tough situation while awaiting a vaccine to prevent the coronavirus," he said.

Bangladesh has reported 98,489 coronavirus cases and 1,305 deaths due to the disease. The International Yoga Day will be celebrated across the globe on June 21.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)