The central Italian region of Lazio, fringing the capital Rome, has asked its large Bangladeshi community to undergo “blanket testing” for the coronavirus following a recent increase in the number of infections.

Lazio has reported some 8,000 cases since Italy’s Covid-19 outbreak emerged at the end of February, far fewer than in Lombardy and other northern regions.

However, the discovery of some recent infection clusters has authorities concerned, including among 10 Bangladeshis in the last few days, with the latest on Friday when a man returning from his South Asian homeland tested positive.

Lazio hosts around 37,000 of the 140,000 Bangladeshis in Italy, according to national statistics institute ISTAT. Around 32,000 of them live in the capital Rome.