Italy Asks Bangladeshis to Test for COVID-19

The central Italian province of Lazio, on the outskirts of the capital Rome, has requested its broad Bangladeshi population to conduct "blanket testing" for coronavirus following a dramatic rise in the number of infections.

Lazio has reported some 8,000 cases since the outbreak of Italy's COVID-19 at the end of February, much less than in Lombardy and other northern regions.

However, the discovery of some recent infection clusters has concerned the authorities, including 10 Bangladeshis in the last few days, with the latest on Friday when a man returning from his South Asian homeland tested positive.

Lazio Health Chief Alessio D'Amato said that from Monday the region will open a testing center dedicated to Bangladeshis and urged them to show up in large numbers. All testing will be done on a voluntary basis, said the region.

According to the regional statistical institute ISTAT, Lazio houses about 37,000 of the 140,000 Bangladeshis in Italy. Any 32,000 of them reside in the city of Rome.

“Quarantine has to be certain for those coming from Bangladesh...We have asked the airport company and the doctors to tighten controls,” D’Amato said in a statement.

Cases are rising in Bangladesh, which has officially reported some 156,000 infections and nearly 2,000 deaths so far.

However, some observers fear that the contagion is underreported in densely populated, impoverished Bangladesh. It has almost three times the Italian size, but far fewer studies have been carried out.

Italy, one of the world’s worst hit countries with almost 35,000 deaths from COVID-19, ended a rigid lockdown two months ago and has reported fewer than 50 deaths per day for the last two weeks.

Source: Reuters