The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has directed all domestic and international airways to follow the list of hospitals approved by the government for testing air passengers for Covid-19 infection.
The direction was given at a meeting with representatives from all airways on Tuesday, after the UAE government designated 14 hospitals in Bangladesh for testing on July 16.
Regarding the matter, CAAB Chairman Air-Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman said: “We have directed all airways that they must follow government-approved laboratories.”
He also said the Health Ministry has sent a team of five doctors to check outbound passengers for Covid-19 before boarding a flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
At the same time, the government also announced that foreign nationals, who stayed in Bangladesh for 14 days or more, must be tested for coronavirus within 72 hours of departure.
In addition, carrying Covid-19 clearance certificates has been made mandatory from July 23.
Currently, CAAB has so far given permission to Qatar Airways, Emirates, Turkish, Malaysian Airways, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, US-Bangla, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and Malindo Air to resume flights from Dhaka on a limited scale.
However, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has imposed a ban of 4 weeks from June 22, on China Southern Airlines flight CZ392, which connects Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Guangzhou, China.
On June 11, the airways carried on board 17 passengers from Bangladesh who tested positive for Covid-19.
