Italy returnee tests positive for coronavirus

A man, who was sent to Dhaka's Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital from Gazipur recently, has tested positive for coronavirus.

Officials of the hospital informed Gazipur Civil Surgeon Khairuzzaman last night about the case, our local correspondent reports today.

The infected man was among the 48 Italy returnees, who were kept in quarantine at a 20-bed hospital in Gazipur since March 14.

After conducting some tests on them, four persons were transferred to the hospital in Dhaka on March 15 and four others were sent on March 16, said Gazipur Executive Magistrate Wasiuzzaman Chowdhury.

Rest of the 40 Italy returnees are still in quarantine at the hospital in Gazipur, he added.

Apart from them, three persons from Sadar upazila and one each from Kaliganj, Sreepur and Kapasia are under home quarantine, he added.

The district's Deputy Commissioner SM Tariqul Islam said law enforcers have been deployed to monitor and provide security to the people who are now in quarantine.

Besides, necessary measures have been taken in this regard to prevent the spread of the outbreak, he added.

Yesterday at a press briefing, Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora confirmed that two new persons were diagnosed with Covid-19.

The WHO protocol adopted by the WHO-China Joint commission on Covid-19 also suggests that countries with confirmed imported cases have to immediately expand surveillance by testing all patients with atypical pneumonia.