Two more China returnees hospitalised

Two more Bangladeshis who returned from China recently, and had been quarantined at the Ashkona Hajj Camp, were admitted to the Kurmitola General Hospital on Monday with headache and cough.

Brigadier General Jamil Ahmed, the director of the hospital, confirmed the information to The Business Standard.

"Two Wuhan-returnees are undergoing treatment at the hospital right now. We have isolated them from the general patients," said Jamil Ahmed.

He added, "The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has collected samples for testing. We hope they are not infected with coronavirus."

On Tuesday, Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, advised people at a press briefing in the capital not to panic over the coronavirus infection.

"All the Bangladeshis who returned from China are now in good health. Two people have been admitted to the Kurmitola General Hospital with fever," she said.

A total of 6,759 passengers, who have come back from China so far, have been screened at the airport. "Samples from 39 of them were collected for testing, but none of them was diagnosed with coronavirus," said Dr Flora.

Earlier, eight Bangladeshis from a batch of 312 who arrived in Dhaka last Saturday were also hospitalised as they had fever. Later, all of them were tested negative for coronavirus, Dr Flora said.

A charter flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines brought the 312, including 15 children, home from Wuhan city where the coronavirus outbreak started.

Later, they were taken to the Hajj camp in the Ashkona area of Uttara for a 14-day quarantine period.

Coronavirus has so far spread to 28 countries. Till now, 20,694 people have been infected with the virus, and 427 people have died of it.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong confirmed its first death from coronavirus. A 39-year-old man, who suffered from an underlying illness, had visited Wuhan on 21 January.