• Friday, Mar 06, 2020
  • Last Update : 03:29 am

Chinese envoy: Coronavirus screening in Bangladesh inadequate

  • Published at 04:21 pm March 4th, 2020
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming Padma Bridge project office
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming during a press briefing held at Padma Bridge project office in Dhaka's Keraniganj on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

However, he urged to withdraw the on-arrival visa ban for Chinese nationals

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said special protection should provided to everyone arriving from different countries to Bangladeshi land and airports in order to prevent coronavirus. 

He said till date Bangladesh has only checked Chinese nationals arriving at the ports.

The envoy made the statement in a press briefing held at Padma Bridge project office in Dhaka's Keraniganj on Wednesday.

Li Jiming suggested to avoid all kinds of large gatherings.

File photo: A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines brought back 316 Bangladeshi citizens stranded in Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak on February 1, 2020 | Rajib Dhar/Dhaka TribuneHe said around 95% of the spreading is now happening from other countries as China has almost controlled the outbreak of the disease.

The Chinese ambassador also urged to withdraw the on arrival visa ban for Chinese nationals as soon as possible.

On February 2, the Bangladeshi government decided to suspend issuing visas on-arrival to Chinese nationals.

More than 90,000 people have been infected and 3,100 killed since the first cases of coronavirus were identified in China's Hubei province late 2019.