'Don’t bring back 172 Bangladeshi students due to risk of coronavirus spread'

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ji Liming today advised not to bring back 172 Bangladeshi students in China's Hubei Province as there is a risk of spreading coronavirus.

"I don't want the virus to spread to Bangladesh," he said, while talking to diplomatic correspondents at the Diplomatic Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (DCAB) at National Press Club today.

On February 1, Bangladesh repatriated 312 Bangladeshis from Wuhan, the epicenter of coronavirus in China. After 14 days of quarantine, they were released yesterday.

Bangladesh has meanwhile stopped on-arrival visas for Chinese citizens. The Chinese embassy in Dhaka has also instructed Chinese citizens to not visit China from Bangladesh for now.

Ji Liming also suggested that all the Bangladeshis coming from China are quarantined for 14 days to stop any spread of the virus, which he termed as "enemy of the world".

Businesses urged to stay with China

Ji Liming has asked Bangladeshi businesses to not switch their imports to other countries because of coronavirus, which has slightly affected imports from China.

"Imports from other sources will be costly and unnecessary."

Ji Liming said the Chinese New Year holiday that was extended is now over and that businesses are coming back. So, it will not be wise for the businesses to source their raw materials from other countries, he added.

Bangladesh imports goods worth $18.7 billion from China a year, which is about a fourth of its total imports.