The government on Saturday (Jul 18) decided to implement its earlier decision that all passengers need to show Covid-19 negative certificates, tested by the government listed authorised testing centres, at the airports before leaving the country from Jul 23.
“As per the directives of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), all departing passengers from Bangladesh must show Covid-19 negative certificates tested by the government listed 16 testing facilities not more than 72 hours of their international flights from July 23,” said Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) in a circular.
Meanwhile, in a press release, the civil aviation and tourism ministry said all intending passengers need to show their passports and air tickets at the testing facilities while giving samples for the corona test.
The government has fixed Tk 3,500 for each test at laboratories and Tk 4,500 each in case of collecting samples from residences of the international air travellers.
The intending passengers must stay in home isolation after giving their samples until flight day, said the release.
The 16 government authorised Covid testing facilities are – National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre, Institute of Public Health, and National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine in Dhaka; Sher E Bangla Medical College, Barisal, Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Chattagram, Cox’s Bazar Medical College (IEDCR Field Laboratory), Cumilla Medical College, Narayanganj 300 Bed Hospital, Khulna Medical College, Kustia Medical College, Mymensingh Medical College, Bogura Medical College, Rajshahi Medical College, M Abdur Rahim Medical College, Dinajpur, Rangpur Medical College and Sylhet M A G Osmani Medical College.
On Jul 12, the decision was first made at a virtual inter-ministerial meeting chaired by foreign minister Dr A K Abdul Momen in presence of health and family welfare minister Zahid Malek, expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister Imran Ahmad and state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam.
The meeting had also recommended uploading all Covid-19 negative certificates on the website of respective authorized coronavirus testing authorities.
