Govt steps up screening

According to officials, the 12 operational land ports have been given handheld infrared thermometers to check arriving passengers.

“So far, filling up a health status form and further check-ups were mandatory only for the passengers coming from China. From now on [Saturday], all incoming passengers will have to go through the same process at international ports,” Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told The Daily Star.

Since January 21, passengers from China had to pass through thermal scanners and have health check-ups and a form signed by health officials to be able to enter the country. 

In Bangladesh, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) receives four flights a day from different cities in China. Shah Amanat International Airport (SAIA) in Chattogram and the Osmani International Airport in Sylhet have no flights from China.

As of yesterday, health officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International screened 8,484 passengers from China with no detections, according to the IEDCR.

On an average, 10,000 passengers enter the country through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport every day, airport officials said, adding that screening all passengers would make immigration process longer.

The airport has three thermal scanners and five handheld infrared thermometers. 

The authorities at Shah Amanat international and Osmani international, have started screening all passengers, reports our correspondents there.

Shah Amanat international has four handheld infrared thermometers and there are three more at Chattogram port.

The ports are to get new devices soon, Chattogram port health officer Motaher Hossain said.

On an average, around 800 international passengers land at Shah Amanat international every day while the seaport gets around 40 passengers.

Osmani international in Sylhet got two new handheld infrared thermometers yesterday. Now the airport has five such devices.

The two airports have one thermal scanner each but they are out of order.

Mongla port has one handheld infrared thermometer but the port would get more in the coming days, said officials at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

LAND PORTS

The authorities at most of the 12 operational land ports have started using handheld infrared thermometers to screen incoming passengers.

The Centre for Disease Control at the DGHS sent the thermometers to the ports on Wednesday, said Ayesha Akhtar, assistant director of the DGHS information centre.

Shahnila Ferdousi, director at the CDC, told The Daily Star that they sent the devices to the respective civil surgeons for deploying those at the ports.

However, our correspondents reported that the health officials at Sonamasjid, Burimari, and Benapole land ports were yet to get the thermometers.

Health officials were using regular thermometers for health check-ups of incoming passengers.

In Burimari land port, a health official was using their personal infrared thermometer for checking incoming passengers, our Lalmonirhat correspondent reported

Health officials at Bhomra land port in Satkhira had only one handheld infrared thermometer to deal with all incoming passengers. The port allegedly had shortage of healthcare workers, reports our Satkhira correspondent. 

Staffers were seen with no personal protective gear during screening.

Passengers on Kolkata-Khulna and Kolkata-Dhaka trains were not being screened, our Benapole correspondent reported.

Meanwhile, a student, who returned from China’s Anhui province 11 days ago, was admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital with breathing problem, our Dinajpur correspondent reports.

Cough and blood samples from the patient have been sent to IEDCR in Dhaka for tests.

Asked, Prof Flora said, “Samples of the lungs have been tested ... His symptoms are mild. We don’t think it’s a coronavirus case. We would know after further tests.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said it was now not possible to bring back Bangladeshis stranded in China’s Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus outbreak, as the Chinese authorities were not allowing any international flights there, reports UNB.

“The government wanted to bring the Bangladeshis back from Wuhan in a chartered flight when they expressed their willingness to return home,” he said.

Around 171 Bangladeshis are still in Wuhan, he said.

He said if the Bangladeshis managed a chartered flight to come home, the government would pay for it.

Momen dismissed allegations that the stranded Bangladeshis were enduring a food crisis.

The minister said Bangladeshi pilots were unwilling to fly to Wuhan as other countries do not allow them entry afterwards.

Earlier, 312 Bangladeshis were brought back from Wuhan on a special flight spending $130,000, he said.

But after their return, the crew members were facing trouble as they were not being allowed to operate flights into any other country.