Govt: Quarantine centres for up to 4,000 returnees to be set up

The government has decided to set up quarantine facilities to accommodate as many as 4,000 incoming expatriates, says the foreign ministry.

In a statement sent to the media, it said that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Armed Forces Division have been preparing the quarantine centres in Dhaka and other districts.

The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, said a foreign ministry statement.

The Armed Forces Division is working closely with the health ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh for post-arrival formalities including quarantining the returnees, it said.

The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment announced that every returnee will be given a cash assistance of Tk5,000 on arrival at the airport as conveyance and the family of expatriate workers who died of coronavirus will be given Tk 3,00,000.

It will also arrange soft loans of TK5 lakhs to Tk7 lakhs returnee migrant workers in order to enable them pursue viable economic activities, especially in the agriculture sector.

According to the foreign ministry statement, a range of issues relating to repatriation, nationality verification, quarantine, relief for the expatriates, coordination among departments, sending medicines and medical equipment to friendly countries, post repatriation preparedness etc. were discussed elaborately at the meeting.

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. 

Also, as a friendly gesture, Bangladesh is sending food stuffs, medicines, medical equipment and other items to the Government of Maldives. 

A consignment of medicines and medical items will be sent to Bhutan shortly. Bangladesh is also planning to send similar items to other countries in need.