13 prison guards, 1 inmate test positive

At least 13 prison guards, who watched over inmates at hospitals, tested positive for the coronavirus.

A hospitalised inmate also tested positive,  Mohammad Monzur Hossain, assistant inspector general (admin) at the Department of Prisons, told the Daily Star yesterday.

"The infected prison guards were discharging duties with ailing inmates at different hospitals in Dhaka," he said.

In different prisons across the country, 55 other officials and inmates are in quarantine with Covid-19 symptoms, he added.

The guards who tested positive are from a barrack near the old jail in the capital's Bakshibazar, he said, adding that they are now admitted to a hospital in Zinzira area.

Their colleagues who might have come in contact with them are in quarantine at an empty female cell in Kerainganj jail.

The prisons department earlier arranged isolation units for inmates inside jails in Kishoreganj, Madaripur, Pirojpur, Sylhet, Feni and Dinajpur districts, according to a report of the home ministry's special coordination cell.

The jail authorities say they keep new inmates in 14-day quarantine before putting them inside the cell with others.

said officials also examine the medical history of new inmates.

Sources at the prison department said there are around 89,000 prisoners against the capacity of 41,244 in the country's 68 jails.