Rashidul Hasan

Rush for tickets to Saudi Arabia went down to some extent after the number of flights was increased, but Bangladeshis seeking to go to the Arab country are not getting enough time to get tested for Covid-19 due to tight flight schedule.

In this situation, many fear that they might miss their flights.

On Thursday, Moinul Ahsan, civil surgeon of Dhaka, said a record number of Bangladeshi expatriate workers -- 3,283 -- went to the Dhaka North City Corporation market sample collection centre the previous day to get their Covid-19 tests done.

He said many of them were migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

Samples of 2,137 migrant workers were collected from morning till evening on Thursday, the civil surgeon added.

“Although it is a challenge for us to collect samples and carry out tests of so many expatriate workers within a specific period of time, we are trying our best so that no one misses flight for failing to get Covid-19 test report,” he added.

Officials at the DNCC market sample collection centre said they could easily complete their tasks -- collection of samples and delivery of reports if they could get the minimum required time.

“But in several cases, people requested us to deliver their Covid-19 test reports within four to five hours as they had only six to seven hours in their hands to get to their flights,” said the civil surgeon.