The seven individuals who were arrested on Monday for having escaped from Jessore General Hospital while admitted as Covid-19 patients have been released on bail following a court appearance.
Jessore Judicial Magistrate Mahadi Hasan granted their bail application at 4:30 pm.
The seven of the ten individuals caused a furore by escaping the Covid-19 treatment facility in Jessore were arrested earlier on Monday.
Although they were later found and brought back to the medical facility, the incident triggered concern regarding the spread of a highly transmissible and deadly Indian variant of Covid-19, as seven of the escapees had just returned from India.
The arrestees have been identified as Moni Mala Datta, 49, Milon Hossain, 32, Nasima Aktar, 50, Bibekananda, 52, Amirul Sana, 52, Sohel Sardar, 17, and Fatema, 19.
They were held immediately upon release from the hospital.
Besides, the court issued arrest warrants on Sunday against all 10 people who had escaped from the hospital on April 23-24.
The other three are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The arrest warrants were issued after Jessore Kotwali police station filed a non-FIR prosecution under Section 25 (2) of the Infectious Diseases Prevention (Prevention, Control and Eradication) Act, 2016.
Kotwali police station OC Tajul Islam said the court had issued arrest warrants against 10 people who had escaped from the hospital while under treatment for Covid-19. Seven of them were arrested and sent to court, he added.
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh held 27 people including women and children while trying to enter through Jhenaidah border on Monday, which proves the government's commitment in executing the decision.
Indian variant in Bangladesh
Two cases of the Indian Covid-19 variant were detected at the Genome Centre of Jessore University of Science and Technology on Saturday.
The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) confirmed the first case of Indian coronavirus variant in Bangladesh.
The Indian variant of the virus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
Bangladesh on Saturday extended the closure of land borders with India for 14 more days, hours after the country detected six cases of the Indian variant of the Covid-19.
The land borders with India were sealed on April 26 in view of the worsening coronavirus situation in the neighbouring country.