Staff Reporter :
Every passenger will be screened at the airports and land ports from now as per the announcement of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
“Earlier, only travellers from China were being screened but from now on, all inbound passengers will have to go through the thermal health screenings at all the international entry points,” said IEDCR Director Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora at a press conference in the capital on Saturday.
She added: “We have taken the decision of screening all passengers as people of many countries are being detected with coronavirus.”
Passengers from different countries have started filling up health cards and are being fully screened at the airports before their departure, said Meerjady Sabrina Flora.
The IECDR director said, “Without showing clearance from doctors at the airports, no passenger will be allowed to enter Bangladesh.”
She also said her organisation has sent a letter to the airport authorities in this regard on Thursday and the process began on Friday.
Meanwhile, IEDCR has set up four hotline numbers for creating awareness among people about novel coronavirus.
The hotline numbers are: 01937110011, 01937000011, 01927711784 and 01927711785.
Sources said, about 12,000 passengers land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka daily on average.
Earlier on January 21, the authorities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital and Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram started screening passengers coming from China following the outbreak of coronavirus.
Apart from this, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has said all land ports in the country are now using handheld infrared thermometers to screen all inbound travellers to halt the spread of highly contagious coronavirus in the country.
“Some 35 handheld infrared thermometers have been sent to cover all land ports for screening travellers,” Dr Ayesha Akhter, Assistant Director of the DGHS Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room, told the media on Saturday.
