Bangladesh sending Wuhan evacuees home after coronavirus clearance

The Bangladeshi evacuees from Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus epidemic in China, have begun returning home following close surveillance in isolation for two weeks.

They underwent their last health check-up at the Ashkona Hajj Camp in Dhaka on Saturday evening while their relatives gathered outside the facility used for quarantine.

The returnees finally began to leave and meet their loved ones around 9:30pm. Many travelled home on cars while the rest took BRTC buses that left after 10pm.

“It feels very good to get my son after so many days,” said a man who came from Gazipur’s Tongi to receive a student of a university in Wuhan.

A doctor from the capital’s Pallabi said he was happy to see his son healthy.

He thanked the government for arranging the evacuation.

Abul Kalam Azad, the director general of health services, told bdnews24.com around 10pm that 200 evacuees were returning home in Dhaka and adjacent districts in the night.

The others whose homes are far away from Dhaka will leave the following morning, he said.

“They will stay in touch to inform us about their health,” Azad said.

The government brought back 312 Bangladeshis from Wuhan by a special flight on Feb 1.

Its disease control agency IEDCR said no one of the returnees showed any symptoms of coronavirus infection.

Besides detailing instructions on how they should spend next few days, the IEDCR also provided them with face masks and sanitizers for use at home.