A total of 406 Bangladeshis returned home from Saudi Arabia on Thursday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A flight of Saudia Airlines carrying the passengers landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 6:30pm.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, director of HSIA, said: “Altogether 406 Bangladeshi nationals have returned from Saudi Arabia.
“Two of them have been sent to the Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital as they showed high body temperatures during screening.”
“However, all the Saudi returnees have been kept under quarantine at the Ashkona Hajj Camp. Later they will be directed to stay in home quarantine,” he added.
According to sources, these Bangladeshis were kept at deportation centers in Riyadh and Dammam before being sent back home by the Saudi authorities.
Earlier on Monday, around 409 pilgrims who had visited Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah landed at Hazrat Shahjalal Airport.
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft ferrying the passengers landed at the airport around 4:09pm, confirmed Md Mokabbir Hossain, managing director of Biman.
Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suspended all flights to and from Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia due to the global coronavirus outbreak.
On the same day, Biman decided to suspend its flights to Oman as the country had clamped a travel ban on all foreigners.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar suspended all flights with Bangladesh due to the pandemic.
The government on March 14 banned all incoming flights from Europe, except the United Kingdom, till March 31.
