Arifur Rahman Rabbi
The government has decided to put foreign travelers via airports on a three-day institutional quarantine instead of 14 days.
The new rule would come into effect immediately and continue till 11:59pm on April 28, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh said in a notification on Saturday.
Earlier, all international flights remain suspended since April 14. Later, considering the return of expatriate workers to their workplaces, special permission was granted to fly to five countries from 17 April.
At the same time, it was announced that those coming from abroad will have to stay in the compulsory institutional quarantine for 14 days. In this case, the expatriates can stay in the government quarantine center as well as in the hotel designated by the government at their own cost.
The sources said that accommodation facilities at the government quarantine center at Diabari and Hajj camps in the capital were limited. To cope with the pressure, the airlines were instructed to ensure that the passengers book their hotel at the time of checking in before issuance of the boarding pass.
It is known that the expatriates are coming to the country with a hotel booking. However, on arrival, they said they were unable to pay the ‘high’ hotel rent. In such a situation, some passengers were forced to be sent from the hotel to the Hajj camp and quarantine center in Diabari.
So, the CAAB proposed to reduce the quarantine period and decided to stay in institutional quarantine for 3 days instead of 14 days. The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting on Thursday night.
Later, the CAAB issued a notification on quarantine instructions for special flight passengers on Saturday.
According to the notification, all incoming or outgoing passengers shall mandatorily possess PCR based Covid-19 negative certificate. The PCR test shall be done within 72 hours of the flight departure time, according to the circular.
Arriving passengers who have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and possess PCR based Covid-19 negative certificate along with the proof of vaccination shall have to complete a 14-day home quarantine.
The local administration will ensure their home quarantine.
Arriving passengers carrying PCR-based Covid-19 negative certificate and either received the first dose of vaccine or not yet vaccinated shall have to complete a mandatory three-day institutional quarantine at government-nominated facilities or at hotels on passengers' own expenses.
Upon completion of 3- day institutional quarantine, a sample will be collected for the Covid-19 PCR test. The passengers will be released to complete a total of 11 days of home quarantine if the PCR-based Covid-19 test result is found negative.
In case of a positive result of PCR-based Covid-19 test, the passenger shall have to go for isolation at government nominated facilities at their own expenses, it added.
The airlines concerned shall issue boarding passes to the passengers only after getting confirmed about the vaccination.
Airlines must ensure that seats are available for the passengers at the government institutional quarantine facilities or the passengers have proof of hotel reservation for institutional quarantine.
If seats are not available at the government institutional quarantine facilities, the passenger will board the flight only after ensuring hotel reservation.
