Bangladesh government has announced passengers from Europe, except UK, and 12 others countries will be barred to enter the country as coronavirus situation is worsening here.
The countries are- Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Peru, Qatar, South Africa, Turkey and Uruguay.
These new guidelines will come into effect from 12am April 3, and remain in place until April 18, said Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) in a circular on Thursday after reviewing the ongoing Covid-19 situation.
The circular said airlines operating scheduled passenger flights from all those countries mentioned will be allowed to carry only transit passengers to Bangladesh subject to the condition that the passengers remain confined inside the terminal building only during their transit.
Airport Director Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan said: "The airways will be operating special and cargo flights to and from these suspended countries."
Besides, irrespective of the Covid-19 vaccination, all passengers coming to Bangladesh from other countries shall mandatorily possess and show “PCR based Covid-19 negative certificate.” That PCR test should be done within 72 hours before the flight.
Also, it said, the passengers must complete a 14 days home quarantine if no Covid-19 symptoms are found on-arrival health check in Bangladesh.
However, if any Covid-19 symptoms are detected/observed, he/she will have to complete mandatory 14 days of institutional quarantine at government facilities or government-approved hotels at their own expenses.
Bangladesh, on Wednesday, saw an alarming growth in the number of Covid-19 cases. Some 5,358 people were diagnosed with the disease in last 24 hours, which is the highest in a single day till date.
Besides, the country reported 52 more deaths, the highest daily figure since 26 August last year from the deadly virus. Earlier on 26 August, the health department reported 54 deaths from the virus.