CORONAVIRUS No Bangladeshi infected in China

None of the Bangladeshis staying in China was infected with Coronavirus till Wednesday and the government is yet to finalise when and how the citizens will be evacuated.

Diplomats, however, said the government was taking preparations for evacuating Bangladeshis from affected areas in China.

‘No Bangladesh citizen was infected so far,’ Bangladesh ambassador in Beijing Mahbub Uz Zaman told New Age over phone on Wednesday evening.

The Chinese authorities tested three Bangladeshi citizens in Kunming suspecting that they might be infected with Coronavirus, but were not found positive, he said.

The Bangladesh embassy is in close contact with the Chinese authorities in different areas and the World Health Organisation on assessing the need for evacuation, the ambassador added.

The Chinese authorities  shifted over 100 Bangladeshis from a remote area to a dormitory in Kunming upon their request, diplomatic sources said.

The embassy was also in touch with the Bangladesh communities in different areas to identify people willing to return home, a foreign ministry official said.

Bangladesh people willing to come back home were expressing their intent for return in a prescribed form delivered by the embassy, said the official adding that some 325 people living in Wuhan area expressed their willingness to avail evacuation facilities.

Scores of Bangladeshis, many of them are students, informed that they would stay in China, he said.

About 7,000 Bangladeshi nationals usually live in China and many of them are students, said the official adding that nearly half of them are now in Bangladesh on holidays. 

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said that they had contacted the Biman Bangladesh Airlines for operating flights for evacuation from China.

The evacuation operations would be limited to Coronavirus affected areas only, said a diplomat familiar with the preparations.

Upon their return under the evacuation arrangements, people would be kept under observation for at least 14 days, said the minister.

Some 132 people died from the Coronavirus as the outbreak is spreading and nearly 6,000 cases were confirmed till Wednesday, according to international news agencies.

Meanwhile, the Biman Bangladesh Airlines officers on Wednesday said that they had written back to the foreign ministry seeking detailed information on how many Bangladeshis were willing to return home from China and who would bear the cost for the special flights.

Biman managing director and chief executive officer Mokabbir Hossain said that the foreign ministry in a letter wanted the state-owned airlines to keep its aircrafts ready for evacuation of the Bangladeshis.

‘We wrote back to the ministry seeking information on how many people are willing to return home and who will bear the costs,’ said Mokabbir, adding, ‘Because, we need to operate special flights in case we are asked to bring anyone back.’

The foreign ministry was yet to declare any flight for Wuhan.

The China Southern and Eastern airlines and Bangladeshi operator US-Bangla airlines are currently operating flights mostly from and to Guangzhou international airport in China.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net