NEW DELHI — The Bangladeshi authorities have arrested the owner of a hospital who they said had sold migrant workers thousands of certificates showing a negative result on coronavirus tests, when in fact many tests were never performed.
The authorities said they caught the hospital owner on Wednesday trying to sneak across the border into India disguised as a woman. Police officers said that when they arrested the owner — a man they identified as Mohammad Shahed, with a long criminal record — he was wearing a black burqa that covered him head to toe.
Over the past week and a half, Bangladeshi investigators pieced together what happened: Mr. Shahed’s hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, had been selling fake coronavirus certificates — thousands of them, at $59 apiece — indicating that a patient had tested negative, the Bangladeshi authorities said.
There is a huge market for these certificates among migrant workers from Bangladesh hungry to get back to work in Europe, doing jobs like stocking grocery stores, bussing tables in restaurants or selling bottled water on the streets. Many Bangladeshi workers have recently flown to Italy, where they said that employers required such certificates before allowing them to go back to work.
As Bangladeshi police officers began to close in on Mr. Shahed, he vanished, the authorities said. But after a nine-day search, they caught him at the border.
The widespread use of fake Covid-19 certificates has been “a huge blow to the image of our country,” said Obaidul Quader, a minister in Bangladesh’s government.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Millions of Bangladeshis work overseas, sending billions of dollars back home, keeping the economy afloat. During this pandemic, many workers who had come back to Bangladesh for a short break found themselves cut off from their jobs overseas and were eager to get back to work.
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Mr. Quader, the minister, has said that different criminal syndicates were operating across Bangladesh, luring migrant workers with virus-free certificates and, in turn, endangering many lives. The Bangladeshi authorities said that the Regent Hospital, run by Mr. Shahed, had issued more than 10,000 certificates and that most of them were fake, backed by no actual coronavirus test.
Two other doctors have been arrested and accused of selling thousands of fake virus certificates from their laboratory in Dhaka. The Bangladeshi authorities said that special law enforcement agents were on the hunt for others like them.
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, Italy’s health ministry confirmed.
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.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Updated July 16, 2020
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Is the coronavirus airborne?
- The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain super-spreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. It’s unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
- Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
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What’s the best material for a mask?
- Scientists around the country have tried to identify everyday materials that do a good job of filtering microscopic particles. In recent tests, HEPA furnace filters scored high, as did vacuum cleaner bags, fabric similar to flannel pajamas and those of 600-count pillowcases. Other materials tested included layered coffee filters and scarves and bandannas. These scored lower, but still captured a small percentage of particles.
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Is it harder to exercise while wearing a mask?
- 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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What is pandemic paid leave?
- 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.
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.”
Fiorenza Aini, a spokeswoman in the press office of Italy’s justice ministry, said that she was not aware of any current joint investigation between Italy and Bangladesh.
Giuseppe Mazzara, a spokesman from the Lazio region, which includes Rome, said that more than 6,000 coronavirus swab tests had been carried out on people who traveled to Italy from Bangladesh in the month of June, as well as people they came into contact with. So far, 191 had tested positive, he said.
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. Emma Bubalo contributed reporting from Bergamo, Italy.
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