Benapole land port alert against Zika

Benapole land port has been put on alert to block entry into Bangladesh of anyone carrying the Zika virus, which has spread in Latin America in an epidemic form.

Immigration police at Benapole said a medical team was examining every foreigner entering Bangladesh through the land port.

Officials said the team formed in February last year to combat Ebola virus and swine flu was now working to detect the Zika virus, which may cause serious birth defects in babies if mothers contract the virus while pregnant.

Jyotish Chandra Roy, a member of the medical team, said they haven’t found any Zika case yet.

A total 1,378 foreigners entered Bangladesh through the port from Feb 1 to 5, officials said.

Most of them are Indians. The others are from the US, UK, Canada, Italy, Australia, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.