You're listening to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

I'm Vivienne Nunes, coming up, social distancing and the often precarious world of the sex worker.

At a time when strict lockdowns are still in place in much of the world,

we hear from women whose livelihoods vanished overnight.

People are afraid. If they come to us, they might get infected. We are afraid too.

This fear of getting infected will come up all the time.

Many sex workers aren't eligible for government assistance. That's left some choosing to work

despite worries about their health.

Others are turning to the virtual world to survive.

I myself have pretty much lost all income because of the coronavirus.

I've had to turn my business online, which is learning a whole new skill set.

That's all coming up here on Business Daily from the BBC.

The social distancing rules and lockdowns that we've seen in so many cities around the world

over the last couple of months have meant that sex workers, like so many others, have seen

their incomes disappear overnight. While in some cities, businesses are slowly reopening

now, the sex trade clearly carries with it a high risk in terms of transmitting the coronavirus.

It's an industry where regulations vary hugely across the globe, but sex workers everywhere

are deeply anxious about their futures and their safety.

Later in the program, we'll hear from an escort in Australia who's trying to adapt to the crisis

by taking her business online.

But that's not an option for the women in Bangladesh's Dalatia brothel.

The shanty town, home to 1,300 sex workers and their 400 children,

...