Travellers will need coronavirus-negative test result to enter Bangladesh

The government has restored the rule that requires travellers to test negative for COVID-19 to enter Bangladesh as part of its efforts to avert a second wave of infection in winter.

The travellers will need to quarantine for 14 days if they arrive without the test results, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said at an event at the Kurmitola General Hospital on Sunday.

He said it was necessary to make the negative test result mandatory for the travellers because many countries are experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections after

months of decline while travel restrictions were eased.

The rules will be applicable to all travellers regardless of their port of entry – airports, land ports or maritime ports, the minister said.

“We’ve arranged quarantine facilities everywhere as well,” he added.

After the pandemic began in China in late 2019, many countries, including Bangladesh, had taken precautionary measures, such as thermal screening at airports and mandatory institutional quarantine for travellers, to prevent the spread of the novel virus.    

They suspended international flights for more than two months when the virus had begun to spread rapidly. Air connectivity was reestablished between many countries and travel restrictions at borders were eased after the initial jolt of the pandemic.

As the pandemic began raging on again recently in many countries, including the US and the European ones, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Nov 1 directed all ports in Bangladesh to bring back the surveillance and safety measures that were put in place at the onset of the crisis.