Bangladesh mandates 14-day quarantine for travellers from Europe

All passengers returning from the United Kingdom and other European countries must stay in quarantine for 14 days in government-specified institutions or hotels at their expense.

Passengers flying in from these countries will have to go through quarantine, regardless of being vaccinated or not. The rules will take effect from Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move follows the government’s 18-point directive issued in its efforts to curb the spread of the fresh wave of the novel coronavirus.

Irrespective of the COVID-19 vaccination, all passengers coming to Bangladesh must mandatorily possess and show ‘PCR-based COVID-19 negative certificates’ at airports. The PCR test has to be done within 72 hours of the flight departure time, according to the statement.

“On arrival in Bangladesh, all passengers originating from any European country including the UK, have to complete a mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine at government facilities or government-approved hotels at passengers’ own expenses,” CAAB said. 

“Upon completion of the quarantine period COVID-19 PCR test will be carried out and the passenger will be released if the test result is negative.”

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Passengers from any other countries, except the UK or other European countries, must complete a 14-day home quarantine if no COVID-19 symptoms are found on arrival in Bangladesh. If COVID-19 symptoms are detected or observed, they must complete a 14-day mandatory institutional quarantine at government facilities or in government-approved hotels.

After an alarming spike in coronavirus cases, the government on Monday issued an 18-point health instruction, which includes restrictions on all sorts of public gatherings.

Before this, it was mandatory for all passengers from London to go into institutional quarantine, while the rest could isolate at home.