In the last 19 days of travel ban on the Bangladesh-India border, 2,803 people have returned to the country through the Benapole immigration checkpost with NOC from the Bangladesh Sub-High Commission in Kolkata.
They were immediately sent to quarantine after a health check-up. According to the report of the sample tests in RTPCR lab, 12 of them were Covid-19 positive. On the other hand, 280 passengers stranded in Bangladesh have returned to India.
Benapole Immigration Officer-in-Charge (OC) Ahsan Habib confirmed the information. He said 123 passport-carrying passengers returned from India through Benapole port from May 10 till 3pm on Friday.
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Ahsan Habib further said that the India returnees are being kept at various hotels in Benapole, Jessore, Narail, Satkhira and Kushtia, and in the institutional quarantine of Jhikargachha Gazi Dargah Orphanage.
Passengers returning to the country with Covid-19 or symptoms of Covid-19 are being sent to the coronavirus unit of the 250-bedded hospital in Jessore.
Benapole checkpost immigration Health Officer Dr Ashrafuzzaman said the Bangladesh government banned travel to India for 28 days in two phases to prevent corona infection.
However, only those stranded in India are returning home with NOC from the Bangladeshi Sub-High Com institutional mission in Kolkata.
They are being kept in quarantine in different hotels and government institutions.
It may be mentioned that the Bangladesh Government in the first phase imposed a ban on travel to India for two weeks from April 26 and then for two more weeks to prevent the transmission of the Indian variant of the deadly virus.