Sadullapur’s UNO panel for lockdown

Gaibandha DC says he is yet to decide; civil surgeon says no lockdown advice was given
Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary and Wasim Bin Habib
Confusion spread over the decision to put Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha under lockdown yesterday, after a upazila committee to contain coronavirus, led by the UNO, made the recommendation to do so in a letter to the district administration.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nabinewaz of Sadullapur wrote the letter to the deputy commissioner asking for necessary steps to be taken to institute the lockdown.
Abdul Matin, deputy commissioner of the district, and Civil Surgeon ABM Abu Hanif, said the lockdown decision was never taken.
“There was a misunderstanding caused by a letter. We have seen the letter and we will take necessary action against the person who issued the letter,” Abdul Matin said.
The UNO had sent the letter to the DC yesterday noon and forwarded a copy to the superintendent of Police and the civil surgeon.
A copy of the letter was leaked on social media and some private television channels ran a news about the lockdown.
In the letter, the UNO said two US expatriates attended a wedding reception at a house in Habibullahpur village under Bonogram Union of Sadullapur upazila. Some 400-500 people were present at the reception.
“Later, the duo tested positive for coronavirus,” reads the letter.
Then on March 22, the by-polls of Gaibandha-3 [Sadullapur-Palashbari] was held, and many voters turned out to vote, it said.
“In this circumstances, there is a possibility that the virus might spread fast. Therefore, the committee…has unanimously taken the decision to lockdown the upazila for the safety of public health,” the letter said.
However, the letter did not mention the date of the wedding reception, which was on March 13. Neither did it have details about when and where the two US expatriates tested positive.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Nabinewaz said, “Actually, we have sent the letter as a proposal of locking down the upazila considering the fact that the virus may spread.
“Now it is up to the DC and the higher authorities to take the decision over lockdown.”
The UNO said they had already placed in home quarantine five members of the family which hosted the reception.
They also proposed to the higher authority to test the five for the virus.
Talking to The Daily Star, DC Abdul Matin said, “No decision of locking down Sadullapur was taken. And no patient has been detected [with coronavirus in Sadullapur] here yet.”
Talking to other reporters, the DC said two persons -- a mother and her son -- were detected with Covid-19 in the Sadar and both of them are US returnees.
But the situation in Sadullapur is normal and there was no lock down enforced here, he said.
The DC insisted that no local was detected with the virus in Sadullapur. “Two US-returnees visited a house. That’s why we have placed members of the household in quarantine.”
Civil Surgeon ABM Abu Hanif echoed the DC.
“Yes, it’s true that two persons were detected. But I will not share the details about them,” he said.
Shahria Khan Biplob, chairman of Sadullapur upazila, said they came to know yesterday that the two US expats who took part in the wedding tested positive for Covid-19.
At the same time, one elderly person of the family which hosted the reception fell ill nearly a week after the reception, he said.
“Following the development, we held the meeting of the committee and wanted to quarantine the house first. Then we thought of a lockdown for the entire village and upazila headquarters, which is close to the village, if anybody showed similar symptoms,” Biplob, also the adviser of the upazila committee, told The Daily Star.
“There might be some mistakes while writing the letter as we did not take a decision to lockdown the entire upazila. Besides, this decision will have to come from higher authorities,” he said.
76,000 PEOPLE IN SHIBCHAR UNDER “CLOSE OBSERVATION”
The local administration in Madaripur’s Shibchar have kept 76,000 people of six areas under “close observation” to fight the spread of the virus, reports our Faridpur correspondent.
“We have deployed 250 police officers around the restricted area to ensure that no one enters or leaves. Our 20 tag officers have been working in 19 unions and one municipality to help the people,” said Shibchar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Asaduzzaman.
Locals are requested to avoid public gatherings to prevent coronavirus infection, he said.
Public transport has been suspended in the entire upazila and all shops, except pharmacies and groceries, are shut down, he added.
“There are 664 foreign returnees, including those from Italy, in Shibchar upazila. Among them, 261 are now in home quarantine and others have already spent 14 days of quarantine. So, we keep a close eye on all who came from abroad and the people they interacted with,” he said.
Md Shofikul Islam, civil surgeon of Madaripur, said, “Recently, 3,000 returnees came to Madaripur and among them 298 are in home quarantine. Three people are in isolation and three others are in official quarantine.”