Failure to show Covid-19 negative certificate: Shajahan Khan’s daughter barred from leaving country
Oaishe Khan, daughter of former shipping minister and current Awami League Presidium Member Shahjahan Khan, was barred from going to London by immigration police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital today after it was found that she had tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Jahirul Islam, a physician at the airport's health desk, said an official from the VIP immigration desk came to their desk with Oaishe's passport and a token which had a doctor's signature. The signature, however, did not match that of any of the health desk doctors.
He said they then cross-checked the token online and found Oaishe had last tested Covid-19 positive. Following the development, immigration police barred her from leaving the country.
A police official at the airport, however, said Oaishe was barred because she had failed to show a Covid-19 negative certificate.
Contacted, Shajahan Khan told this newspaper that his daughter gave samples for testing at the government testing centre in Mohakhali's DNCC isolation centre on July 24. They received a message the next day saying Oaishe was Covid-19 negative, he said.
When the family contacted the certificate-issuing authority -- the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Reference Centre -- after returning from the airport, they were given another certificate which said Oaishe was Covid-19 positive, he added.
Since July 23, passengers submit their Covid-19 certificate at the airport health desk. Upon checking it, doctors at the desk issue a token certifying the passenger is fit to fly. The passengers then submit the token to the immigration police for clearance.
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