Cumilla
36 India returnees sent to Cumilla for institutional quarantine
As many as 36 Bangladeshi nationals, who returned from India through the Akhaura land port on Tuesday, have been sent to Cumilla to undergo institutional quarantine as all the isolation centres in Brahmanbaria are full, officials said on Wednesday.
The 36 Bangladeshis returned home from India on Tuesday after obtaining a 'no-objection certificate' from the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Agartala. Similarly, 27 Indian nationals have returned home through the land port.
Mohammad Nur-e-Alam, Upazila Nirbahi officer, said these 36 Indian returnees have been sent to Cumilla as all the institutional isolation facilities in the district are full. "Those who have completed their 14-day quarantine at the centres will be released soon," he said.
Read: Another India returnee dies in Jashore quarantine
So far, 718 Bangladeshis have returned from India through the Akhaura land port in the past three weeks.
Dr Mohammad Rashedur Rahman, Akhaura upazila health and family planning officer, said at present 346 people are staying at the nine quarantine centres of the district and of them three tested positive for Covid.
As India has been experiencing a new strain of Covid-19, the government has imposed restrictions along the border areas of Bangladesh. According to the World Health Organisation, the Indian variant has already spread to 60 countries across the world.
The Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment and having visas with validity for less than 15 days could enter Bangladesh only through Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari after taking permission from Bangladesh diplomatic missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with a mandatory Covid-negative certificates done through PCR test within 72 hours of entry.
The highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus has been detected in three more samples of Bangladeshis who recently returned from the neighbouring country, Prof Iqbal Kabir Zahid, assistant director of the genome centre of Jashore Science and Technology University, said.
The three infected persons are currently under institutional quarantine at Jashore and Narail, he told UNB.
On Monday, the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) announced that the Indian variant was found in six Covid-19 patients in Bangladesh.
Read: 3 India returnee students test Covid positive
The Indian strain of the virus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
Earlier, the government closed the border with India for 14 days with effect from April 26 but cargo services were allowed to operate as usual.
On May 8, the government decided to extend the closure of border with India for another 14 days as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in India.
100 buses seized in Cumilla for violating govt rules
At least 100 buses have been seized for operating services flouting the government’s directives in Cumilla district in the last two days till Sunday night.
Additional superintendent of Cumilla Highway Police Mollah Mohammad Shahin, said as per the government directives they have set up a number of check-posts on Dhaka-Chattogram highway’s Alekharchar, Miarbazar and others important points to prevent movement of inter-district buses.
Also Read:Bus services resume in Bangladesh cities
During the regular check, the highway police found at least one hundred buses are carrying passengers from one district to another district ignoring the government’s directives to prevent transmission of coronavirus.
All the buses have been kept at the respective police stations and police camp and cases have been filed in this connection.
Public transport services were suspended in Bangladesh on April 5 with the government announcing a countrywide restriction to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Also Read: Police seize four buses for violating lockdown norms in Jashore
On April 30, the transport owners’ association urged the government to immediately resume bus services in the country. The association also demanded food assistance for the unemployed transport workers.
On May 3, the government decided to allow the intra-district public transport services with effect from May 6 after extending the ongoing restriction till May 16
Cumilla Crash: Victims belong to 3 generations of a family
A man, his daughter and granddaughter died Tuesday, as a truck piled into a CNG auto-rickshaw in Chiwra, an area of Chauddagram in Cumilla.
The deceased were identified as Md Hanif, his daughter Mery Begum, and granddaughter Mehzabin.
Yasin Prodhania, Fire Service and Civil Defence in-Charge of Chauddagram, said the driver of the truck lost control of his vehicle and hit the auto-rickshaw hard- killing Mery on the spot and injuring four others.
Also read: Three killed in Cumilla road crash
After being taken to the hospital, doctors declared two more dead, said Prodhania.
Road accidents in Bangladesh
Road accidents in Bangladesh claim hundreds of lives every year.
At least 484 people were killed and 673 others injured in as many as 427 road accidents in January this year.
According to Road Safety Foundation (RSF), the accident rate increased by 25.58 percent while fatalities rose by 8.76 percent in January compared to the same period last year.
Also Read: Bangladesh's roads remain perilous; 37,170 killed in 5 years
At least 445 lives were lost in 340 road accidents in January 2020, according to RSF.
In a report released in February last year, the World Bank said Bangladesh needs to invest an estimated $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road crash fatalities.
The report attributed the high death rate on Bangladesh’s roads to a lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes.
Three killed in Cumilla road crash
Three people were killed as a truck hit a battery-run auto-rickshaw in Palpara area of Cumilla Sadar upazila on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Helal Mia, 60, Matin Mia, 65, and Abdul Kader, 70.
Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Police Station Md Anwarul Haque said the truck hitthea Mainamati bound auto-rickshaw at 9:30 am, leaving its two passengers dead on the spot and injuring some others.
Later, one of the injured passengers died on the way to a hospital.
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