25 UK returnees test Covid negative after retest in 24 hrs

Twenty-five Bangladeshis who arrived in Sylhet from the UK five days back now tested negative for Covid-19, just a day after they came out to be positive.

The 25 Bangladeshi nationals, out of 28 who returned home from the UK, were found negative in Covid-19 tests as their results came from the lab of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) on Tuesday.

On Monday, the reports of the 28 UK returnees were found positive. Later, the authorities concerned sent their samples to SUST lab for retest, where the results of the 25 returnees came out negative.

Sylhet Civil Surgeon, Premananda Mondol, said the authorities concerned have decided to retest the UK returnees as they did not have any symptoms of Covid-19 and the results of 25 returnees came out negative.

However, they are looking into the test reports and there will be a meeting on Wednesday in this connection.

The 28 Bangladeshis were hospitalised under government management after they had been tested positive,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police BM Ashraf Ullah Taher Monday night.

All of the UK returnees were in quarantine at various hotels since their arrival on Jan 21.

They were scheduled to stay in quarantine for four days. Their samples were tested again on Sunday, a day before coming out of the quarantine.

Besides, a special team from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Tuesday noon arrived in Sylhet to test 29 UK returnees who tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier in May, 30 samples found to be Covid-19 positive in tests conducted in Jashore and Kushtia turned out to be negative in further tests carried out in Dhaka, raising serious concerns over the capability of labs set up at the district level.

The contradictory reports drew huge criticisms in Chuadanga, putting the district health department in an embarrassing situation.

Some netizens demanded exemplary punishment of those who are responsible for these unreliable tests.