Health Minister Roberto Speranza called for "rigorous
precautionary measures for arrivals from extra-Schengen and
extra-EU areas" to be set together in a letter sent to European
Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and German
Health Minister Jens Spahn.
Greater Coordination.
In this situation "I would ask the Commission and the presidency
to promote greater coordination between member States and, in
this way, guarantee greater effectiveness in achieving the aim
of containing the spread of contagions caused by outbreaks (of
COVID-19) of external origin".
Outbreaks from Third Countries.
"Albeit in a epidemiological situation that is positive on the
whole, in the last two weeks hotspots of COVID-19 contagion have
broken out, often caused by people coming from third countries,"
the minister wrote.
Arrivals from Bangladesh.
A charter flight arrived from Dhaka on Tuesday with 274
passengers on board and they were subjected to recently adopted
control measures.
High Percentage of Infections.
Thanks to this, a high percentage of infections was detected (36
positive swabs at the moment out of 274 passengers, while the
results of another 160 have not yet arrived).
"On the basis of these results, I decided with Foreign Minister
(Luigi) Di Maio to suspend flights from Bangladesh for one
week," the minister concluded referring to "recent events in
Italy".
Bangladeshi Community.
In the meantime, the ASL Roma 2 health authority and the
Anti-COVID Crisis Unit met representatives of Rome's Bangladeshi
community to inform them about the situation and reassure them.
It was an opportunity to give precise recommendations that can
be translated into Bengali and disseminated via social media and
the community's internal channels.
Tests.
The Lazio regional government has asked everyone who has entered
Italy from Bangladesh since June 1, or who has had contact with
people who returned from the country, to go and have the
coronavirus test.
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