The government has ordered the local authorities to draw up a list of China returnees in the last 14 days amid the fast spreading coronavirus that has so far claimed 170 lives.
The Directorate General of Health Services on Tuesday (Jan 28) directed the superintendents of police, deputy commissioners and civil surgeons to draw up the list.
According to a Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) statement the decision was taken during a meeting headed by DGHS chief Dr Abul Kalam Azad.
IEDCR chief Meerjady Sabrina Flora said in the statement that the civil surgeons have been briefed on the overall situation of the coronavirus outbreak and were instructed on how to prevent the infection from spreading and told to inform the health officials about the matter.
The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh and Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce were also briefed on travel to China, where the virus originated.
Airport authorities have screened 3,348 passengers as of Wednesday (Jan 29) and not detected the virus.
According to the IEDCR statement, they received 53 calls on their hotline– nine of which were related to the coronavirus but no cases of infection has been detected.