Covid detection before trip: Migrants forced to cancel flights

Some 550 Bangladeshi expatriate workers, including 200 UAE-bound ones, are forced to cancel their flights every day at the last moment, said sources at Dhaka airport.

Their tickets get cancelled as they test positive for coronavirus, said officials of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, seeking anonymity.

Talking to The Daily Star, multiple expatriate workers expressed serious concerns over their return to workplaces before the expiration of visas.

One such expatriate worker Jumadin Ahmed, of Madaripur, said he was scheduled to go to Dubai on January 26.

"As required by the papers, I took a coronavirus test 48 hours before the flight and I tested negative.

"I went through the same test six hours before the flight again and this time I tested positive."

Another such passenger Mohammad Rakibul Hasan was scheduled to leave the country on January 25. He too could not fly for testing positive six hours before his flight.

As per the rules, all UAE-bound passengers will have to undergo a coronavirus test six hours before their flights and receive a negative report.

Both Jumadin and Rakibul said that their visas would expire by early February and that they would be in serious trouble if they did not manage to reach their workplaces before that.

In such a situation, the authorities of Dhaka airport and different airlines suggested passengers book a fresh ticket after around 14 days.

Around 10,500 passengers, the majority of whom are expatriate workers, leave the country to join workplaces in different countries every day, HSIA sources said.

Of them, between 150 and 200 UAE-bound passengers return from Dhaka airport as they test positive for the virus six hours before their flights, the sources added.

Apart from the UAE, outbound passengers to other countries need to go through the Covid-19 test 36 to 72 hours before their flights.

Officials at the HSIA said around 350 to 400 passengers who test positive for Covid-19, do not come to the airport for their flights every day.

Dr Shahriar Sajjad, assistant director of HSIA heath desk, said around 2,500 to 3,000 UAE-bound passengers take the Covid-19 test at the airport every day.

Analysis of the data collected from expatriate migrant workers whose flight was cancelled due to the infection showed that most of them bought flight tickets keeping a close gap with their joining date at their workplaces abroad.

At the last moment, they meet their relatives and friends, increasing the risk of coronavirus infection among them.

Most of the migrant workers whose flights were cancelled say they had no Covid-19 symptoms.

Doctors at the HSIA said that most people think that if they are infected with coronavirus, they will get symptoms like fever, cough and cold.

"Many people are being affected nowadays whose bodies do not show any symptoms."

Shahriar said outbound passengers should be very careful from seven days before their flights at least.

They will have to stop shopping and meeting with relatives seven days before their flight date, he said.

He also said that the passengers must ensure social distancing and follow health guidelines while they are going outside.

According to the health directorate, if any outbound passenger is tested Covid-19 positive, he or she will not be able to go abroad within the next seven days.

The directive, issued in June 2021, further said that the infected passengers will have to test negative from a government-run lab before flying abroad after those seven days.