Bangladesh extends quarantine for UK arrivals to seven days from four

Passengers arriving in Bangladesh from Britain will have to go into a seven-day quarantine as the authorities have increased the period from four days.

It comes after the UK said a new infectious variant of the coronavirus, first detected in the country, may be deadlier than the other strains.

Those who can pay the bills will be allowed to stay in designated hotels in this period.

The others must go into institutional quarantine, said Md Mokabbir Hossain, managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

The flag carrier said on its website on Saturday that the quarantine rules will be applicable to all UK arrivals, regardless of COVID-negative certificates.

The passengers will have to stay in home quarantine for seven more days if they are released after mandatory quarantine on negative COVID tests in Bangladesh.

The passengers will be sent into isolation at the government-approved hospitals from the institutional quarantine if they test positive for the coronavirus. The patient will have to bear the expense of treatment.

For weeks, Britain has reported alarming coronavirus death numbers, hospitals have continued to fill up, and fears have risen that it will take months to control the spread of a more transmissible variant first detected in the Kent region of England last year, The New York Times reported.

On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a news conference the new variant may also be associated with a slightly higher chance of death, even as he acknowledged it was too soon to be sure, and his own scientific advisers urged restraint in interpreting preliminary evidence.

Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said that the data indicating an increase in the risk of death in those infected with the new variant are preliminary and based on small numbers. The absolute risk of dying from COVID-19 still remains low.