Border with India shut for14 days

After the recommendation of the health directorate, the government yesterday shut down the border with India from today amid tensions over huge surge in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring country.

Passengers travel from India to Bangladesh via land will remain suspended from today for 14 days, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.

Already, air travel between India and Bangladesh has been suspended since April 14 with the beginning of second wave of Covid-19 from the second week of March in Bangladesh.

"We are closing it [border] for passengers for the time-being, but trading will continue," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

The decision came in an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen. Top officials from the Prime Minister's Office, home ministry, Cabinet Division, health, commerce, BGB, and Bangladesh missions in India were present.

According to a foreign ministry statement, Bangladeshi citizens in India for treatment with validity visas of less than 15 days could enter Bangladesh through Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari only after taking permission from Bangladesh missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with a mandatory Covid-negative certificate done through PCR test within 72 hours of entry.

People entering Bangladesh through this process would have to stay officially quarantined for two weeks. Except for the three land ports, all kinds of human movements through all other land ports between the two countries would completely suspended for two weeks.

The vehicles carrying goods from India would have to be properly sterilised before entering Bangladesh borders. The drivers and helpers concerned would have to follow the Covid-19 safety protocol strictly.

Railroads would be encouraged for export and import of goods between the two countries in this period, said the statement.

The Indian High Commission in Dhaka has advised the Indian nationals in Bangladesh to communicate to the mission if they need to travel to India.

"The specific process in such cases is being worked out with the Bangladesh authorities. In the meantime, however, those Indians who need to travel home to India may send tentative travel plans by email to the High Commission at cons1.dhaka@mea.gov.in and cons.dhaka@mea.gov.in," the high commission said in a message.

Sources, meanwhile, said the decision over the ongoing countrywide movement restrictions that will end on Wednesday may come in today's cabinet meeting.

During this surge, the country saw the record-breaking number of deaths and infections continuously which forced the government to enforce the ongoing movement restrictions from April 5.

Since April 16, the positivity rate started going down. The rate was 13.33 percent yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Health Services reported 101 people died from Covid-19 in 24 hours ending at 8:00am yesterday. The figure was 83 the previous day.

With yesterday's casualties, the total number of deaths reached 11,053 and the death rate was 1.48 percent.

In this period, 2,922 more people tested positive for Covid-19, raising the total active cases to 76,817.

Due to the fresh surge of the infection, the DGHS made a set of recommendations, including not to go for complete reopening now and closure of land border with India.

Experts have also suggested closing the borders with the neighbouring country to contain the spread of a new and potentially more transmissible variant of the virus.

"The variant that has spread across India is extremely deadly. It is 300 times more transmissible. Unless health safety guidelines are maintained strictly, the situation here may turn worst ... ," Prof Robed Amin, spokesperson and director of non-communicable disease control programme at the DGHS, said at a bi-weekly virtual briefing yesterday.

In Tuesday's meeting, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 also recommended that the borders should not reopen until the situation in India improves.

The new variant, which has a so-called double mutation, is reported to be fuelling India's second wave of coronavirus cases that has made it the world's second worst Covid-hit country, surpassing Brazil.

India has reported more than 15 million Covid-19 cases so far and more than 175,600 fatalities.

In another development, while there was a serious reservation among the experts as well as the health department, the foreign ministry on Thursday reduced the institutional quarantine period for people returning from abroad to five days from 14 days.

The decision did not comply with the 14-day quarantine rules being imposed as per the experts' suggestion.

Health officials said the decision was not scientific at all.

During yesterday's briefing, Robed said, "We [DGHS] have been repeatedly asking for cooperation so that the Indian variant could not enter Bangladesh. Quarantine must be for 14 days."

"But the health directorate is not the only institution to ensure this; it requires the cooperation from other ministries and departments," he said, expressing concern.

He added that if the institutional quarantine for 14 days is tough to implement, they still would urge for 14 day's home quarantine.

While shops and shopping malls were opened yesterday, the government is also considering lifting restrictions on vehicular movement after April 28.

"In this situation, people have to follow strict health rules. Traders must adhere to the no mask, no service policy when selling goods," said Robed.

Mentioning that the vaccine is not the only tool to prevent Covid-19, he said, "One of the most proven ways in the world is to maintain physical distance. There are a lot of evidence about the effectiveness of the mask. So, we have to follow this."

Talking to The Daily Star, Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, DGHS director general, said, "We have sent our recommendations to the health ministry yesterday [Saturday]. Now it's up to the high-ups of the government to decide."

"But there is no alternative to maintaining health rules to survive this surge," he added.