Covid-19: Technical committee for axing test at ports for fully vaccinated
Taking stock of the global
Covid-19 situation, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on
Covid-19 Thursday suggested scraping the post-arrival test for travellers, who
are fully vaccinated at least 14 days before arriving in Bangladesh.
Considering the drop in the
number of daily case and positivity rate in the country, the committee also
recommended reopening the educational institutions after its 56th meeting,
reports news agency UNB.
The committee suggested
that unvaccinated passengers take a reverse transcription-polymerase chain
reaction (RT-PCR) test 72 hours before boarding a plane.
As some countries no longer
require travellers to take a pre-departure test, RT-PCR should be subjected to
the requirements of specific countries and airlines, it added.
However, airlines have to
ensure that the passengers have their Covid-19 vaccination certificate, the
NTAC said.
Also, the committee
recommended starting in-person classes at educational institutions from 22
February.
It further suggested
ensuring that students are fully vaccinated and health guidelines maintained at
educational institutions.
The educational activities
of primary level educational institutions can continue online, the NTAC said.
The government reopened
in-person classes last September but again closed schools and colleges on 21
January amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Before that, educational
institutions remained shut from 17 March 2020, as the country had reported its
first Covid-19 cases on 8 March.
Bangladesh logged 20 more
Covid-related deaths and 3,539 new cases till 8:00am Thursday.
The positivity rate dropped
to 10.24 per cent from Wednesday’s 12.20 per cent.
The new numbers took the
country’s death toll to 28,907 and caseload to 19,26,570.