Shawdesh Desk:

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday said around 90,245 people were screened at airports, river, sea and land ports of the country as of February 10 in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in Chain.

The Health Services Division under his ministry has screened 12,630 people in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, he said while addressing a meeting at the Secretariat.

Of them, 6,162 underwent screening at Dhaka, Sylhet and Chattogram airports while 240 at river ports and the rest 6,224 at sea ports, the minister said.

The screening those return from abroad is mandatory at all ports of the country since February so that deadly coronavirus cannot enter the country, he said.

Nobody was found with coronavirus infection anywhere in the country till now, the minister said, adding that the China-returnee student admitted to a hospital in Rangpur was tested coronavirus negative.

Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Secretary Md Ali Noor and Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Dr Abul were, among others, present at the meeting.

The novel coronavirus, which originated from China’s Hubei province, has infected more than 40,171 people globally and claimed 908 lives till Monday.