Bangladesh orders compulsory quarantine for returnees

People coming to Bangladesh from infected countries will be kept in compulsory quarantine, health minister Zahid Maleque announced Saturday.

“Anyone violating the directive will be jailed and fined,” he said.

Maleque said 142 Bangladeshis who returned from Italy, which recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe, will be kept in compulsory quarantine at Ashkona Hajj Camp.

Meanwhile, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) director Meerjady Sabrina Flora said there was currently no coronavirus patient in Bangladesh.

She confirmed that the Italy returnees did not have symptoms of coronavirus.

Death toll from coronavirus or COVID-19 reached 5,436 globally as of Saturday. Besides, 145,810 new cases were reported from around the world, according to worldometer.

Of them, 67,843 are currently infected while 72,531 patients have recovered