DHAKA, – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said the Bangladeshis, now quarantined in China, will be under observation when they will return home after the 14-day ban of the Chinese authorities due to coronavirus outbreak.

“When they come back… they will be under our observation,” he told reporters after attending a meeting at the State Guest House Padma here.

Momen said the government is fully aware of the situation and is working to check transmission of coronavirus in Bangladesh.

As per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the foreign minister said, the government has taken all preparations and even readied a aircraft to bring back Bangladeshi citizens who are ‘willing to return’ from China due to the outbreak of the deadly virus.

“We’re not delaying. We’re fully ready to bring them (Bangladesh citizens) back once China allows,” he said. The Chinese government has sealed off Wuhan and other cities, effectively trapping more than 50 million people, including thousands of foreigners, for 14 days in a bid to contain the virus.

Momen said the Chinese government remains very strict in following the 14-day quarantine period and did not even accept the proposals of Japan and the USA to take back their nationals.

The foreign minister said the Bangladesh embassy in Beijing is keeping continuous contact with the Bangladeshi students now stranded in Wuhan of China, the virus epicentre.

He said the Bangladesh embassy has already provided forms to those students for doing registration showing their willingness to return. So far, the death toll due to coronavirus soared to 132 and confirmed infections neared 6,000.