AMN/ WEB DESK
Bangladesh has been removed from the list of ‘at risk’ countries for the latest COVID 19 variant Omicron arriving in India. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its d list on Tuesday removed the name of Bangladesh from the list of countries from where arriving passengers will be required to undergo additional testing and reporting requirements. The latest list includes countries in Europe including The United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.
In view of the new variant Omicron, India had issued fresh guidelines for international arrivals. According to the new guidelines all international passengers have to fill up a self declaration form and upload a negative RT-PCR report. In addition, the passengers from dynamic list of ‘at risk’ countries will need to undergon RT-PCR test on arrival in India followed by home quarantine for 7 days even if tested negative.
For passengers coming from countries outside of the ‘at risk’ countries list, a random sample of 5 percent of passengers will have to undergo RT-PCR testing on arrival.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that the government is considering a ban on flights from African countries in view of the new variant of COVID. He said people arriving from the countries affected by the new COVID variant will be placed under institutional quarantine.
Bangladesh has reported a very low level of sample positivity rate for the last several weeks. According to the latest health bulletin of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Tuesday, sample positivity rate in Bangladesh was recorded to be 1.38 percent. It also reported 1 death and 273 new Corona cases in the country. The number of active cases in the country stood at 7338 as on Tuesday.