Health of passengers from all countries will be tested: IEDCR

From now on, anyone from any part of the world should go through screening at the port to prevent the infection of the novel coronavirus, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR)has said.

The decision was made disclosure at an IEDCR press conference on the coronavirus situation in the city on Saturday.

At the press conference, IEDCR Director Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora said the novel coronavirus has spread from one body to another in several countries sans China. For this, all the aircrafts and its passengers arriving at the airport have been subjected to screening.

Coronavirus has already spread to 25 countries from China. In China alone, the death toll has crossed to 700.

No new suspected patient has been admitted to any hospital, she said.

While talking about the crews of the flight that brought 312 Bangladeshis back to Dhaka from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the locked down epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, and the doctors who went on that flight, the IEDCR chief said they are now at home quarantine and have been advised not to go out.

IEDCR has screened a total of 8,396 China returnees until today from January 21, 2020, and all of them were safe.

Dr Flora urged all not to spread any rumor and pay heed to any such rumor about coronavirus, adding that, “The hype regarding wearing mask to avoid coronavirus is useless.”

The disease monitoring wing is running four hotline numbers -01937110011, 01937000011, 01927711784 and 01927711785 – to solve any type of confusion about the virus and creating awareness among people.