Italy Denies Entry To 125 Bangladeshi Nationals Arriving From Qatar Over Coronavirus

Italian authorities have barred 125 Bangladeshi nationals from disembarking a plain upon arrival at Rome's Fiumicino Airport from Qatar due to coronavirus-related concerns, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) Italian authorities have barred 125 Bangladeshi nationals from disembarking a plain upon arrival at Rome's Fiumicino Airport from Qatar due to coronavirus-related concerns, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Italy officially banned all arrivals from Bangladesh, as announced by Health Minister Roberto Speranza, after 36 passengers on board a flight from Dhaka were diagnosed with COVID-19 upon arrival. They and all other passengers, more than 200 in total, were subsequently quarantined.

The flight from Qatar will have all passengers tested and quarantined, but those from Bangladesh were already told that they would be flown back home on the same plane.

Earlier in the day, Speranza called upon European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakidou and German Health Minister Jens Spahn to join forces and work out a set of strict preventive measures of import of the virus from countries outside the European Union and Europe's Schengen Area.

According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization, Europe is the world's second most affected region to the Americas, with more than 2.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 200,000 deaths.