COVID-19: 129 Indians return from Bangladesh through land route, to be quarantined

A total of 129 Indians, including 105 residents of Tripura, returned from Bangladesh on Thursday, May 28 through Akhaura-Agartala Integrated Check Post in Agartala. All of the returnees will undergo the coronavirus test and will be kept under institutional quarantine for seven days. 

The administration has arranged facilities for the returnees in view of Centre's COVID-19 guidelines. On their arrival, social distancing was maintained and their luggage were sanitised. The returnees also underwent thermal screening.

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"129 people have returned to the country, including 105 people from Tripura. All the necessary arrangements were made for them. Now, everyone will undergo COVID-19 testing and 7-day institutional quarantine," an official said.

"I am a second-year medical student, pursuing my studies in Bangladesh. We had to return due to COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of the Indian High Commission, we have finally returned," a returnee said.

The citizens were escorted till the check post by High Commissioner of India Riva Ganguly Das and then they were received by Lok Sabha Member Pratima Bhowmik along with senior State government officials.

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200 citizens evacuated from Bangladesh 

Earlier on Thursday, around 200 Indian citizens, mostly from the northeastern states, who were stranded in Bangladesh due to the coronavirus-linked restrictions left for home through three land border posts, the Indian High Commission said.

High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das visited the Indian nationals going to Tripura through the Akhaura-Agartala Integrated Check Post and interacted with them. The two other posts through which the Indians were returning home were Dawki-Tamabil crossing bordering Meghalaya and Sutarkandi-Sheola post bordering Assam.

Evacuation from Bangladesh started on May 8 with the first batch of 168 Indian students on board a special Air India flight landing in Srinagar from Dhaka. Subsequently, five more evacuation flights have operated from Dhaka to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Srinagar.

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READ | India Evacuates Around 200 Citizens From Bangladesh Through Land Route

(With inputs from ANI)