Foreign ministry ‘regrets’ Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients ignoring rules in Italy

The foreign ministry has “regretted” that some Bangladeshi expatriates in Italy were ignoring quarantine rules set by the government of the country.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 11 July 2020, 10:03 PM
Updated : 11 July 2020, 10:03 PM

And some Bangladeshi news publishers have “wrongly” attributed an Italian media headline that “Bangladeshis are virus bombs” to the country’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines operated six special chartered flights carrying about 1,600 expatriate Bangladeshis to Rome in past one month.

Around 70 to 75 of them tested positive for COVID-19 while 20 to 25 other members of the Bangladeshi community in and around Rome were confirmed to have the novel coronavirus.

The Italian government has taken steps to provide support to approximately 100 Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients.

Most of them have been kept in a hotel for the period of isolation at the expense of the Italian government, who also hospitalised some of the patients.

“Regrettably, some members of Bangladesh community in Italy who tested positive for COVID-19 are not respectful to the decision of the Italian government, and are ignoring the quarantine and isolation guidelines and instructions of the Italian government,” the foreign ministry said.

“They are defying the restrictions of the Italian government, thus putting the entire community at risk of infection of the virus,” it added.

The ministry also noted that a group of Bangladeshis who returned to Bangladesh from Italy in March also behaved in “similar irresponsible manner” and refused to follow Bangladesh’s quarantine procedures.

Some Italian newspapers reported the attitude of defiance by the members of the Bangladeshi community, and “this may create mistrust or discontent among the Italian population against Bangladeshis in Italy”, the foreign ministry said in the statement. One newspaper even published the news under the headline of Bangladeshi “virus bombs”.

However, Conte never mentioned the word “virus bombs” indicating to any community during his interview with a Spanish TV Channel, but the Bangladeshi newspapers misquoted him, the statement said. 

It urged the print and electronic media in Bangladesh “not to publish any news that may impact the bilateral relations between two countries without due diligence”.

“While running any news that may have a negative impact on bilateral relations, including on the Bangladeshi expatriate community, the media is urged to check the authenticity of the news,” it added.