135 Bangladeshis not allowed to get off planes in Rome amid COVID-19 concerns

ROME - Around 135 Bangladeshi passengers were rejected from getting off a plane in Rome's Fiumicino Airport on Wednesday over COVID-19 concerns, local health official said.

Italy on Tuesday has suspended flights from Bangladesh due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the Bangladeshi community in Rome caused by arrivals from their homeland.

The Bangladeshi nationals from the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka flew from the Qatari capital city of Doha, said Alessio D'Amato, head of the Lazio region's Health Authority Crisis Unit.

The travelers were sent back to Doha, with the exception of one Bangladeshi woman who is pregnant and has been transferred to a local hospital, while the other passengers have been tested for the novel coronavirus at the airport, the official added.

Another 40 Bangladeshi passengers were not allowed to disembark from a Qatari Airways flight that arrived at Milan's Malpensa Airport on Wednesday, reported ANSA Italian news agency, saying that they were also sent back to Doha by the same plane.

Health authorities in Lazio tweeted on Wednesday that the region currently has 874 COVID-19 cases, of whom 663 are quarantined at home, 198 hospitalized with symptoms, and 13 in the intensive care units.