Big Business in Bangladesh: Selling Fake Coronavirus Certificates
4 years ago
Bangladesh #Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s coronavirus situation is especially murky. The country, home to more than 160 million people, has reported around 200,000 cases. But with the virus sweeping through South Asia, and with testing relatively low in Bangladesh, health experts believe the country has a much higher infection rate than the official numbers indicate.
Italy’s health minister, Roberto Speranza, has ordered the suspension of all flights coming in from Bangladesh after at least 37 Bangladeshi passengers arrived in Rome and tested positive for Covid-19, according to Agence France-Presse. Last week, Italy sent back 168 Bangladeshis who had arrived at airports in Rome and Milan.
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Updated July 16, 2020
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A commentary published this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine points out that covering your face during exercise “comes with issues of potential breathing restriction and discomfort” and requires “balancing benefits versus possible adverse events.” Masks do alter exercise, says Cedric X. Bryant, the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit organization that funds exercise research and certifies fitness professionals. “In my personal experience,” he says, “heart rates are higher at the same relative intensity when you wear a mask.” Some people also could experience lightheadedness during familiar workouts while masked, says Len Kravitz, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Mexico.
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The coronavirus emergency relief package gives many American workers paid leave if they need to take time off because of the virus. It gives qualified workers two weeks of paid sick leave if they are ill, quarantined or seeking diagnosis or preventive care for coronavirus, or if they are caring for sick family members. It gives 12 weeks of paid leave to people caring for children whose schools are closed or whose child care provider is unavailable because of the coronavirus. It is the first time the United States has had widespread federally mandated paid leave, and includes people who don’t typically get such benefits, like part-time and gig economy workers. But the measure excludes at least half of private-sector workers, including those at the country’s largest employers, and gives small employers significant leeway to deny leave.
Even before the testing scam was exposed, Bangladeshi law enforcement officials said that Mr. Shahed had been investigated in more than 30 other criminal cases connected to corruption, embezzlement and running fraudulent companies. He has served two years in prison, the authorities said.
“He is a known criminal,” said Faizul Islam, a member of Bangladesh’s elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion. And, Mr. Islam added, “we are acting against others.”
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry released a statement on Thursday saying that “around 1,600 Bangladeshis who went to Italy recently did not carry fake Covid-19 negative certificates.” But the statement added, “some Bangladeshis who traveled to Italy in the recent days did not follow the mandatory quarantine rule, and probably a few of them might have spread the virus in the community.”
Taheer Hussain, a Bangladeshi migrant laborer who works in the kitchen of a restaurant in Milan, said that Italian newspapers have been continuously reporting on a surge of Covid-19 cases in the Bangladeshi community, making ordinary workers suspect.
“People are looking at us with suspicious eyes,” Mr. Hussain said on phone from Milan, “as if we all are infected by virus.”
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from New Delhi, and Sameer Yasir from Srinagar, Kashmir.
