Quarantine centres to be set up for 4,000 incoming expats

The government is setting up quarantine centres for 4,000 persons in Dhaka and some other districts around the capital for those who will be repatriated from different countries, mainly from the Middle East.

"The Armed Forces Division has been working in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to prepare quarantine centres at different places in Dhaka and other districts with a capacity of around 4,000 persons for institutional quarantine," said a foreign ministry statement.

The Armed Forces Division has also been in close liaison with the Ministry of Health and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) for post-arrival formalities, including quarantining the returnees.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate with the civil aviation authority for smooth airport reception and ease in landing permission of special flights carrying Bangladesh nationals from different countries," the statement said.

The statement came after an inter-ministerial meeting was held today at the foreign ministry on repatriation, nationality verification, quarantine, relief for the expatriates, coordination among departments, sending medicines and medical equipment to friendly countries, post repatriation preparedness.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen presided over the meeting attended by Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, senior officials from the Armed Forces Division, civil aviation authority, health ministry, and other relevant ministries and departments.

The meeting, the third in a row, is being held at a time when different countries are asking Bangladesh to take back some of the Bangladeshi migrants, especially those in the jails, deportation centres or are undocumented.

Besides, some Bangladeshis who went to Saudi Arabia for Hajj and Umrah or those who went to India either for treatment, travel or studies, have also been stranded and may be brought back.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the Middle Eastern countries are trying to reduce the migrant population. "If we don't repatriate them, they won't recruit workers from our country when the situation improves," he said.

"Therefore, we are repatriating them because otherwise there will be problems. We said we will bring them back in small batches."

He said there were some Bangladeshis in jails and authorities of those countries wanted them repatriated.

"We said we will bring them back but will have to see what type of crimes they committed. We will verify those. If someone is convicted for murder, they won't be taken back. Those coming from jails will have to face due jail terms in Bangladesh," Momen said in a video message to the media.

Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad said a flight with more than 300 Bangladeshis from Saudi Arabia was scheduled to fly to Dhaka tonight in a Saudi Airlines flight.

The Expatriates' welfare ministry has announced that every returnee will be given Tk 5,000 on arrival at the airport as conveyance and the family of expatriate workers who died of coronavirus will be given Tk 3 lakh.

The ministry will also arrange loans of Tk 5 lakh to Tk 7 lakh upon return of expatriate workers in order to enable them pursue viable economic activities, especially in the agriculture sector, it said.

The ministry also has allocated Tk 4.5 crore for emergency food assistance for the Bangladeshi migrants in different countries in the Middle East and Malaysia.

The foreign ministry said as a goodwill gesture, a medical team equipped with medical gadgets and medicine from the Armed Forces Division has been sent to help Kuwait in this critical moment.

A consignment of medicines and medical items will also be sent to Bhutan soon. Bangladesh is also planning to send similar items to other countries in need, the statement added.