Dhaka: Amid mounting concerns over the spread of coronavirus, police have so far been able to locate and ensure the quarantine of only 2.7 percent of the total number of returnees from different countries in the last three month. From January 21 to March 23, around 6.58 lakh people have come to Bangladesh from different countries, according to the Directorate General of Health Services database.

Of the returnees, around 2.98 lakh people entered the country in the first 21 days of this month, according to police data.

"We have managed to locate and ensure quarantine of only 17,834 returnees across the country so far," a high official of Police Headquarters (PHQ) told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We are trying to get their [the rest of the returnees'] locations but they are not found in the permanent addresses mentioned in their passports," said the official, requesting anonymity.

With an aim to address the alarming situation, PHQ has asked all expatriate Bangladeshis, who arrived in the country from March 1 onwards, to notify local police stations of their current locations and mobile numbers.

On behalf of the expats, their relatives can also provide the information to the police stations, said PHQ in a statement issued yesterday.

Failure to do so will result in legal action under the Communicable Diseases Prevention, Control and Eradication Act, read the statement.

Asked, Md Sohel Rana, assistant inspector general of PHQ, told The Daily Star yesterday that police have closed all public meetings in different areas of the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection.

"We are circulating leaflets and also conducting different awareness programmes," he said.

Police are going door-to-door to know whether expatriate Bangladeshis are in home quarantine, but the expats who returned home within the aforementioned period are not staying at their addresses mentioned in the passports, said the AIG.

"Many of them are moving around, violating the government guideline and putting other citizens at risk."

"We have now advised the returnees to communicate with local police stations or else legal action would be taken against them. Steps can even be taken to suspend their passports," Sohel added.

According to sources, these returnees have been roaming around their localities, going to markets and even holding marriage ceremonies, instead of being in the 14-day quarantine.

Kh Mahid Uddin, deputy inspector general (DIG) of Khulna range police, told this newspaper that they are trying their best to keep the returnees in their homes to stop the spread of virus but are failing to do so as they are not getting any trace of the visiting returnees.

Even the locals have failed to provide any helpful information as some of the returnees left their homes in their permanent addresses some five to 10 years back, said the DIG.

"We have so far managed to the trace locations of 6,252 people from February 1 till date," he added.

The police database shows that in the last 21 days, the highest number of people returned to Dhaka division, which is around 98,916 out of 2.98 lakh. The second highest number of people entered Chattogram division, which is 77,963.

Contacted, Habibur Rahman, DIG of Dhaka range police, told The Daily Star that they have so far able to locate around 6,649 returnees' locations.

In Chattogram city, authorities were able to trace locations of only 973 returnees, police officials said.

Asked, Khandaker Golam Faruk, DIG of Chattogram range police, said they are jointly working with the administration and the army to locate the returnees and ensure their home-quarantine.