Flight suspension to 10 countries extended till April 15

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has extended the flight suspension to 10 countries till April 15 in a bid to contain the coronavirus from spreading across the country.

The countries are Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and India.

In a circular issued on Saturday, the ministry said all commercial passenger flights from the aforementioned countries would not be allowed to operate in any of the international airports of Bangladesh till April 15. 

However, commercial passenger flights to and from China, Hong Kong, Thailand and UK will continue until further notice. 

People who would like to leave Bangladesh may use one of these routes, the foreign ministry circular read.

However, national carrier Bangladesh Biman Airlines will not operate its flights to and from the UK for a week from March 30.

Earlier in the day, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) had said the flights would remain suspended till April 7, but the foreign ministry later extended the suspension. 

According to CAAB, domestic flights in the country will remain suspended till April 7.

Bangladesh had previously cut air connectivity with these countries on March 21.

So far, five people have died while 48 others have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in Bangladesh.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research confirmed the first death from the infection on March 18, the second on March 21, the third death on March 23, the fourth on March 24 and the fifth death on March 25. 

As of Saturday, over 6 lakh people were infected globally with the highly contagious coronavirus, while 28,687 have died from it.