Govt orders 14-day quarantine for passengers returning from India

Passengers returning from India through Benapole land port in Jashore must stay on 14-day institutional quarantine. The directive has been implemented from today (Wednesday).

“Order has been issued to implement the quarantine from today. There are a few residential hotels in Benapole town that can accommodate around 200-250 people. But around 400-500 people are entering Bangladesh from India through Benapole everday. Maybe we have to shift the people to hotels in Jashore. We’ll take steps in this regard. Right now we’re working to implement the government order,” said Jashore deputy commissioner Tamijul Islam Khan.

Speaking to Prothom Alo this morning, Sharsha upazila health and family planning officer Yusuf Ali said, “We’ve taken all kinds of preparation at immigration. But it’s the duty of the administration to fix the hotels for quarantine. That has not been done as yet. That’s why we could not send the passengers on institutional quarantine.”

He also said, “Local administration and the health department have been jointly working to create an environment for keeping people on quarantine. We’d a meeting with the upazila administration too.”

On average, around 1,500 passengers have been going to India and returning from there through Benapole every day. People are going to India for medical treatment and business purposes. Issuing of tourist visa is suspended due to the Covid-19 situation.The notification, signed by the prime minister’s principal secretary Ahmed Kaikaus, directed to follow the cautionary move until the next order. It also said that the step has been taken to curb the recently increased number of cases of novel coronavirus infection.

Jashore district administration, health department, Benapole immigration authority and police received the notification on Tuesday. It asked people to stay in quarantine at their own expenses.