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.