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Coronavirus: Overseas returnees asked to contact police

People who have returned from abroad since March 1 and staying at addresses different than the ones in their passports have been asked to contact nearby police stations, reports UNB. 

All returnees must inform police about their current locations and provide mobile phone numbers, a notification from the Police Headquarters said Tuesday. 

It warned of legal action is anyone violates the directive.

Thousands of Bangladeshis returned home from countries affected by coronavirus in recent weeks but only a fraction of them have gone through home quarantine. The government has called out the Armed Forces to assist the civil administration to help tackle coronavirus or COVID-19.

Earlier in the day, rail and river transportations were shut down. Mass transportation will remain shut from March 26.

Bangladesh, which has so far confirmed three coronavirus deaths and 27 cases, is taking sweeping measures to contain the virus. It has cancelled the birth centenary celebration and Independence Day programmes and closed educational institutions and declared general holiday from March 26 to April 4. 

The global death toll from coronavirus or Covid-19 reached 16,510 as of Tuesday -- a mortality rate of 14 percent. The virus has so far infected 378,842 people since it was first reported in China, according to worldometer.

Of them, 260,268 are currently being treated and 12,062 are in serious or critical condition. So far, 102,064 (86 percent) patients have recovered.