They roam around in quarantine!

Although the government is repeatedly requesting people returning home from abroad to be in home quarantine for 14 days to prevent spread of novel coronavirus, many of them are seen walking freely in their localities.

Three days ago, a youth returned home from Saudi Arabia to a village in Manikganj Sadar Upazila. He was instructed by the local administration to stay at home under quarantine.

Visiting the village on Friday, this correspondent found him roving about near his home.

"I don't have any symptoms of coronavirus infection. That's why I go out of home," he told The Daily Star.

Another youth of the same village returned home from the Gulf country seven days ago. He was found feeding cattle and working with his family members.

Their family members said Dr Lutfor Rahman, upazila health and family planning officer, visited their homes and asked the two youths to stay at home quarantine for two weeks.

The two expatriates are at home on vacation.

On March 2, the health ministry formed committees at the district and upazila levels to check spread of the novel coronavirus.

Manikganj Civil Surgeon Dr Anwarul Amin, also a member of such a committee, said he was not aware of the two youths roving about in their village.

"Everybody should come forward as patriotic citizens to check the spread of the virus. The health department alone will not be able to do the job properly," he told The Daily Star.

He urged the expatriates, who returned home recently, to follow the directives of the health department and not to cause panic.

The civil surgeon said 221 expatriates were asked to stay in home quarantine in Manikganj in the last five days.

According to government statistics, over 1,200 expatriates have so far been asked to be in home quarantine, but many of them are reportedly not following the directive.

As many as 81 expatriates were in self quarantine in Mymensingh and three in Brahmanbaria, reports our local correspondents.

The deadly novel coronavirus has already claimed about 5,400 lives across the world.

A day after the World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 a global pandemic, the Directorate General of Health Services yesterday published a circular warning the expatriates of legal action for failure to stay in home quarantine.

In case of any violation of law, the person would be jailed for the maximum two months or fined up to Tk 25,000, or punished with both a jail term and a fine.

Meanwhile, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, yesterday said they gave directives to the civil surgeons to take help from the local administrations to force the expatriates to stay in home quarantine properly.

She was speaking at a press briefing at the IEDCR in the capital's Mohakhali.(The Daily Star holds the names of the expatriates and their exact locations for their safety)