Hospital officials said they had received an order to set up the flu corner Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

No flights from affected countries except UK to have access to Bangladesh, visas on-arrival suspended for all countries till March 31

Two new Covid-19-infected patients have been detected in Bangladesh.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque disclosed the information at a press briefing last night.

As part of a contingency measure against the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak, the government has decided to suspend issuing visas on-arrival for all countries till March 31.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday made the announcement while briefing media on the current coronavirus crisis.

The minister also said along with European countries, the countries affected with coronavirus, will not have access by flight to Bangladesh.

The people of the countries who closed their borders for Bangladeshis will not be allowed to enter Bangladesh until March 31.

Bangladeshis arriving from countries affected with Covid-19 must undergo compulsory quarantine.

He said no inbound passengers from European countries, except United Kingdom, will be allowed entry to Bangladesh during the time.

The new decision will be effective from 12.01am, Sunday, he said.

‘One more patient recovers’

Earlier in the day, IEDCR said the third patient, among the three earlier infected with coronavirus, had tested negative for the first time after being hospitalized.

"The person will undergo another test within the next 24 hours. If the result is negative again, we will initiate procedures to release the patient," said Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora at a press briefing at IEDCR headquarters in Dhaka.

A day before the briefing at noon on Saturday, the director had said the patient had been found to be positive the day before.

On March 8, IEDCR confirmed its first three patients of Covid-19. The IEDCR on Thursday said two consecutive tests had found that two of them were virus-free.

In the last 24 hours, the IEDCR tested 24 samples that were all negative. A total of 211 tests have been conducted so far.

‘Situation not critical for school shutdown’

IEDCR says the coronavirus situation is not critical enough to call for shut down of educational institutions.

"Schools and colleges have been shut in countries where the coronavirus situation is very bad. But that’s not the case in our country and we don't feel it’s necessary to close educational institutions at the moment," said IEDCR Director Dr Flora.

The director general (DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) while talking to reporters at its auditorium said that in view of the public panic over Covid-19, the ministry is expected to sit with other ministries on Sunday about shutting down schools.

The health minister is scheduled to sit with ministers and officials of foreign, home, education, railway, and civil aviation and tourism ministries and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).

DGHS DG Dr Abul Kalam Azad, however, said that the situation is not critical enough to call for shut down of educational institutions.

He said a number of provinces of India are affected by coronavirus but schools in Delhi were only suspended.

“Where the local transmission is more than 10, a bigger quarantine comes into process,” he added.

23 Bangladeshi students arrive from India

Twenty three students arrived in the country yesterday from Delhi after spending their quarantine period, according to the Foreign Ministry.

These students were earlier flown to Delhi from Hubei province of China by the Indian government and were kept in quarantine.

Bangladeshi authorities were in touch with these students and also with the concerned authorities of the government of India regarding their wellbeing.

As none were infected with Covid-19, the authorities concerned of India released them from quarantine facilities for repatriation to Bangladesh.

The students arrived in the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at about 3pm by an Indian carrier. They were later handed over to their family members.

The government of Bangladesh is also taking other necessary measures in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) for the safety and security of all the Bangladesh expatriates living in various countries.

142 Italy returnees to be ‘home quarantined’

Following the government order of compulsory quarantine after returning from abroad, the 142 returnees who landed in the country on early Saturday were asked to be “home quarantined” after medical check-up at Ashkona Hajj Camp as they showed no symptoms of Covid-19.

The DGHS DG, Dr Abul Kalam Azad said Abal Kalam said, as of now, home quarantine is the best method for curtailing spread of coronavirus.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque at a press briefing at DGHS head office in the city yesterday said the returnees are well-off and there were no symptoms of corona-virus infection among them.

At the press conference he said all returnees must go into compulsory quarantine.

An Emirates flight carrying 142 Bangladeshi arrived in Dhaka from Italy early yesterday.

They were then taken directly to Ashkona Hajj Camp near the airport under special measures, said Shahriar Sajjad, in-charge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport medical team.

Meanwhile a video surfaced in facebook where some 30 Italy-returnees who were at Ashkona Hajj Camp were seen protesting outside the camp claiming "mismanagement by the authorities."

Shahriar Sajjad, the in-charge of Dhaka Airport said he was at the camp when the returnees were demonstrating at the exit gate of the camp, and said their claim of not attending by any physician was misleading.

The returnee passengers were protesting without seeing our initiatives. Later, those who live far off voluntarily agreed to spend the night at the camp.

At the request of Health Ministry, army personnel were deployed for security at Ashkona Hajj Camp, read an ISPR press release.

The DGHS DG, Dr Abul Kalam Azad, in an informal conversation with the reporters said they are discouraging returnees to return to the country as it would create more chances of locally transmission of the infection.

Flights from Italy to Bangladesh would be cancelled in the next couple of days, he said.

Death toll from Covid-19 reached 5,436 globally as of yesterday. 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.

Other Italy returnees sent to Gazipur

Another 59 returnees from Italy who arrived last afternoon in two separate flights of Emirates and Qatar Airways were sent to a medical camp in Gazipur.

They would be kept at the camp overnight and medical tests would be conducted tomorrow, confirmed Dr Abul Kalam Azad.