B’desh closes borders with India

DHAKA: Bangladesh will close its land borders with India for the next 14 days due to an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases in the neighbouring nation, foreign minister A K Abdul Momen announced in Dhaka on Sunday.

Passenger travel from India to Bangladesh via land will remain closed from Monday for a twoweek period, Momen told reporters. “The decision was taken in view of the rapid increase in coronavirus cases in India... We are closing the land routes for passengers for the time being,” he said.

The minister said that trade between the two countries will, however, continue. There would be no ban on the movement of cargo vehicles, Momen said.

Air travel between India and Bangladesh was already suspended since April 14 following a sudden rise in the number of Covid-19 infections.

Bangladesh’s home minister Asaduzzamman Khan Kamal also conveyed the same message to the press, saying the authorities have decided to close the borders with India for a fortnight.

Bangladesh - which is currently under a lockdown - and India share land borders in the states of West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

It was Bangladesh’s national technical advisory committee (NTAC) on the Covid-19 crisis that had first suggested border closure with India in view of the surging number of cases. It had also advised the government that the land routes should not reopen until there is a clear improvement in the coronavirus situation in India.

The Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh isn’t any better, with the country’s health officials saying the nationwide death toll reached 11,058 on Sunday, with 101 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours.

The country’s directorate general of health services (DGHS) has said 2,922 new Covid-19 infections were recorded overnight, taking the total tally to 7,45,322 in the country.