Six RT-PCR labs at airport go on trial run today

Six real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) labs for testing coronavirus will go on trial in the international airport for the UAE-bound migrant workers today (Saturday).

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad visited the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on Friday, and gave direction in this regard to the companies that got permission to install the labs.

Earlier, a technical committee - formed by the health ministry, finalised six companies to start the testing for Covid-19 in the airports.

While visiting the HSIA, Imran Ahmad told a group of journalists that they would not tolerate any further delay in setting up the labs.

"I have directed the lab owners to launch testing within a few days," he added.

About 50,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers, who came home on vacation, have been stranded at home for months.

According to the guidelines of the UAE government, foreign workers, who want to return to their workplaces in the gulf country, have to produce Covid-19 test result that has to be conducted at the airport within six hours before their departure.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the officials at a cabinet meeting in the first week of this month to install RT-PCR testing facilities at the international airports in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet.

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