36 India returnees sent to Cumilla for institutional quarantine

As many as 36 Bangladeshi nationals, who returned from India through the Akhaura land port yesterday, were sent to Cumilla to undergo institutional quarantine as all the isolation centres in Brahmanbaria are full, officials said today.

The 36 Bangladeshis returned home from India yesterday after obtaining NOCs from the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala.  Similarly, 27 Indian nationals have returned home through the land port.

The 36 returnees have been sent to Cumilla as all the institutional isolation facilities in the district are full, said Mohammad Nur-e-Alam, upazila nirbahi officer. "Those who have completed their 14-day quarantine at the centres will be released soon," he said.

So far, 718 Bangladeshis have returned from India through Akhaura land port in the past three weeks.

Dr Mohammad Rashedur Rahman, Akhaura upazila health and family planning officer, said at present 346 people are staying at the nine quarantine centres of the district and of them, three tested positive for Covid-19.

As India has been experiencing a new strain of Covid-19, the government has imposed restrictions along the border areas of Bangladesh. According to the World Health Organization, the Indian variant has already spread to 60 countries across the world.