ZCZC
BSS-50
BAN-TRAVEL-EXTENSION
Bangladesh extends inbound travel ban deadline till midday tomorrow
By Tanzim Anwar
DHAKA, March 15, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh today extended the deadline of a
ban on entry of Europeans and people from several other coronovirus-hit
countries excluding those who would be travelling from Britain for 12 more
hours until midday tomorrow, officials said.
“The deadline has been extended to evade a chaotic situation as several
Bangladesh-bound aircrafts are still on the sky,” Civil Aviation and Tourism
Secretary M Mohibul Haque told BSS this evening.
He added if the ban was enforced from 12 midnight today for next 16 days
as decided overnight, it would have exposed the Bangladesh-bound aircrafts on
the sky to a state of wilderness, a situation that prompted “us to re-fix the
deadline”.
Haque said the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAB) directed all
airlines not to carry any passengers to Bangladesh from Europe except those
from the United Kingdom from Monday 12 pm to March 31.
The revised announcement came some 24 hours after Foreign Minister Dr AK
Abdul Momen told media that Dhaka decided to enforce the ban from 12 midnight
Sunday.
The decision was taken late yesterday at an inter-ministerial meeting
while Momen announced the ban after obtaining Prime Minister Shekh Hasina’s
endorsement.
The ban is meant for Bangladesh-bound travellers from all European
countries except the UK and other nations which restricted Bangladeshis entry
to their territories over the coronavirus, which of late is being described
as COVID 19.
The countries which shut down their doors for Bangladeshis include India,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
“We will reciprocate their decision in an identical manner . . . but the
ban will be imposed both for foreigners and Bangladesh nationals,” Momen told
BSS this evening.
He, however, said even people intending to come to Bangladesh from UK must
ensure that they did not visit any severely coronavirus-hit countries in the
last 28 days.
World Health Organization earlier this week declared Europe as the new
COVID-19 epicenter.
CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman earlier this evening said
airlines which would carry European passengers to Bangladesh after the ban
deadline, would have to bring them back in their own cost.
He said, by now, CAAB was exposed to a huge financial loss due to the
coronavirus pandemic outbreak, estimated to be Taka 35 to 37 lakh everyday,
and feared the ban to increase the amount.
BSS/ASG/TA/AR/2255 HRS