Monowara Begum Moni
If you want to travel abroad from Bangladesh you have to take a covid-19 test, it’s a new rule of the Bangladesh Government which has been implemented after a travel scandal during the corona pandemic.During the corona crisis Bangladeshi migrants in Italy were stigmatized over coronavirus certificate scam.
Authorities of Rome’s Fiumicino Airport refused entry to 125 Bangladeshi passengers on July 8 due to fears of Covid-19, reports Italian news agency ANSA.
It came after Italy suspended all flights from Bangladesh for one week due to a “significant number” of passengers who tested positive for the coronavirus on a flight to Rome on July 7, reports Delhi-based The Financial Express.
After the Corona fake Certificate scandal, an inter-ministerial meeting of Bangladesh Government took the decision to making test mandatory for all air passengers to take certificates from authorised testing centres as evidence that those proving negative do not have coronavirus prior to travels.
They will be charged Tk 3,500 for a test if they give samples at the labs. But in the Test centre passengers have to pay TK 35 more.
The coronavirus testing of the passengers, who are bound for travel abroad, were found started at the Mohakhali’s DNCC Market Test Center, in Dhaka, though a list of candidates showed the tests were planned in two other centres, like the Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine, and the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre.
It may be mentioned that under the overall supervision of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, work is underway to set up the facility, which was launched as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, The Economic Times adds. In the centre, there were many Chinese passengers as well as Chinese testers. It was also remarkable at Hazrat Sah Jalal Airport as second test. Chinese presence was always there.
According to The Economic Times New Delhi: China plans to conduct Phase III trials of its Covid vaccine in Bangladesh.
Well known Chinese firms Sinopharm and National Biotech are eyeing this possibility of human trials to be conducted on 40,000 persons, it is reliably learnt.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Abdul Momen has said it will a collaboration between two research organizations of Bangladesh and China
However, the fee-based covid-19 certificates from Bangladesh was not accepted in Germany (not trust worthy- fake certificate). Is the problem due to an idea that the tests lacks credibility or as they come from a country that is ranked as poor“?
(Monowara Begum Moni is a journalist based in Stuttgart, Germany)
