The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved six RT-PCR labs to be set up at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital.
As a result, there was no obstacle to Bangladeshis going to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) chairman Air vice Marshal M Mofidur Rahman confirmed the matter on Wednesday.
He said, “The UAE has given permission to six companies in a letter this morning. As a result, expatriate Bangladeshis will be able to go to the UAE from today. However, in this case, they have to arrive at Shahjalal Airport six hours earlier. If the Coronavirus Test report is negative here, they can go to the UAE. In a word, passengers will have to undergo a coronavirus test within six hours of departure from the RT-PCR labs set up at Shahjalal Airport.”
It is learned that the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Dhaka sent a letter to the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on Wednesday morning.
The letter contains the approval of the labs.
It is said that the Civil Aviation of the United Arab Emirates has approved the labs that have been set up at Dhaka airport, to test samples of coronavirus. At the same time, regular flights from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates were approved.
As per their decision, the approval came into effect from 12 noon on Wednesday. The six approved institutions are Gulshan Clinic Limited, Stemz Healthcare BD Limited, CSBF Health Center, AMZ Hospital Limited, Anwar Khan Modern Medical College Hospital and DMFR Molecular Lab and Diagnostic.
RT-PCR labs installed at HSIA which were supposed to be functional from Tuesday, finally could not start their work as the final approval from UAE was delayed.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has said that the Covid-19 sample test was not started due to non-receipt of Standard operating procedure (SOP) from the UAE authorities.
Health department sources said RT-PCR labs have been set up at the airport. Six institutions will be able to test samples there. A letter has been sent to CAAB by the Department of Health to launch the labs after examining the technical issues of setting them up.
Bangladesh was banned from flying to the United Arab Emirates for about three months due to the rise of Coronavirus infection. However, on 4 August, the United Arab Emirates approved the arrival of passengers from six countries, including Bangladesh.
However, passengers interested in flying to the UAE must get a negative certificate from these labs six hours before the start of their journey.
