A special mobile court in Sylhet has sentenced two UK returnees to a week in jail for violating quarantine rules. The court has also imposed a fine of Tk 10,000 on each of the violators -- Abdun Nur, a 42-year-old resident of Goyashpur in Sunamganj's Chhatak, and Alam Hasan Rauf, 36, of Chanpur in Biswanath upazila. Police said Wednesday the duo returned to Bangladesh from the UK on March 22, along with 140 other passengers. As per the government's Covid rules, they checked into Gates Hotel Star Pacific Hotel in the city for a seven-day mandatory quarantine for foreign returnees. Also read: UK returnees to Bangladesh must stay in quarantine: Minister During the quarantine period, the samples of both the UK returnees were collected but they managed to flee from the hotel before getting their Covid-19 report. Being informed, a mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Mohammad Mezbah Uddin tried them and sentenced them to seven days in jail for violating the quarantine rules. Also read: 9 UK-returnees escape from quarantine in Sylhet, return after 12 hours On March 22, nine UK returnees of a family disappeared from a Sylhet hotel, which has been converted into an institutional quarantine centre. However, the nine people returned within 12 hours, the management of Britannia Hotel told UNB. Also read: New Covid-19 strain found in 10 EU returnees: Maleque Five adults in the group were fined Tk 18,000 each by a magistrate for violating the quarantine rules.  

Nine UK-returnees of the same family disappeared from a Sylhet hotel that has been converted to an institutional quarantine centre on Sunday, before returning around 12 hours later.

Twenty-five Bangladeshis who arrived in Sylhet from the UK five days back now tested negative for Covid-19, just a day after they came out to be positive.

Another 48 UK returnees arrived at Sylhet’s Osmani International Airport on Monday amid the detection of a new strain of Covid-19 in the European country.

All the UK returnees must stay in a 14-day institutional quarantine from January 1 to contain the spread of a new variant of Covid-19.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Wednesday said UK returnees must be there in quarantine for seven days as a new strain of coronavirus has been detected there.

In an effort to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, local administrations have beefed up monitoring across the country to make sure that those returned from abroad follow home-quarantine rules.   In Madaripur, a complete shutdown has been enforced in Shibchar municipality and three unions of Shibchar upazila to contain the virus which is ravaging the entire world.   All the entrances and exits of the municipality and Panchhar, Baheratal and Natun Bahertala unions have been closed. Most shops in the municipality were closed.   Deputy Inspector General (Dhaka Range) of police Nure Alam Mina revealed the information at a press conference at Shibchar Police Station on Friday afternoon.   He said all the residents of the areas have been asked to stay indoors. “They’ve been asked to call us if they need anything and police will deliver those to their doorsteps with the assistance of local representatives,” he said.   The DIG also said a committee has been formed with local representatives in every area to ensure that those returned from abroad remain in mandatory home-quarantine.