‘Remove us from red-listed countries’
Dhaka has requested London to remove Bangladesh from its red-listed Covid-19 countries, which will allow stranded British Bangladeshis to go back to the UK.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen made the request during a virtual meeting with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday, according to a statement from the Bangladesh High Commission to the UK.
The foreign minister said given Bangladesh's robust vaccine roll-out and as the Covid-19 infection rate significantly declined to 9.82 percent, the UK should consider removing Bangladesh from its red list, the statement added.
Momen held the meeting virtually from the Netherlands, as the scheduled meeting on September 2 was postponed, as the UK secretary had to travel to Doha for an emergency meeting on Afghanistan.
Dominic Raad said Britain does politically appreciate the overall pressure on the government regarding red-listing and remains well aware of decreasing Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh.
However, such decisions are reviewed by public health experts on a regular basis, he added.
He said given the long-standing friendship between the two countries, and as more frequent genomic sequencing data is uploaded by Bangladesh, the British government will review Bangladesh's inclusion in the red list.
Among others, Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem participated in the meeting, said the statement.
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