By Md. Kamruzzaman
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Sixty-six policemen in a station in Bangladesh’s mid-southern district of Gopalganj, were quarantined Saturday after an officer tested positive for COVID-19, the facility’s head confirmed Sunday to Anadolu Agency.
“As part of the highest precautionary measures we have sent all 66 policemen of this station to home quarantine for two weeks as per direction from the higher authorities,” said A. K. Azad, officer-in-charge of the Muksudpur police station.
He said samples of 12 policemen have been sent to Dhaka for testing. “Samples of all others will also be sent to the lab soon.”
“For the interim period new members from other stations have been shifted here,” Azad said, and they are strictly following government-set health guidelines to stem the outbreak of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the government prepared 22 state-run hotels and motels, mainly dedicated to foreign tourists, for health care employees treating COVID-19 patients free of charge, local media reported Sunday.
“The 22 hotels and motels across the country have been prepared to host them as per government instruction,” the Daily Star newspaper quoted Ram Chandra Das, chairman of government’s main tourism monitoring body, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
"These hotels and motels had been empty since the coronavirus outbreak. If these hotels and motels can be used for the accommodation of doctors and other health employees in this national crisis, it would be of great satisfaction," he said.
Three more deaths from the coronavirus were reported Saturday in Bangladesh, raising that total to 30, according to the government’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
Moreover, 58 patients contacted the virus, bringing the figure to 482, while 36 have recovered.