No connection between Covid-19 certificates and suspension of flights to Italy: foreign ministry

Bangladeshis, who flew to Italy early this month, did not carry "fake Covid-19 certificates", said a foreign ministry statement today.

"Some of those passengers decided on their own to carry the Covid-19 test certificates in case those were required eventually. The Italian government has not yet put the condition of carrying Covid-19 negative certificate as prerequisite to travel to the country," said the statement.

"That means there was no connection between the certificates and the suspension of the flights," clarified a foreign ministry official.

It was rather because some Bangladeshis who travelled to Italy recently did not follow the mandatory quarantine rule, and probably a few of them spread the virus in the community, said the statement.

"After travelling to Italy, some of the Bangladeshis had gone out of their hotels to have Bangladeshi food. That's how they could have spread the virus," the foreign ministry official added.

On July 7, the Italian government imposed a travel restriction from Bangladesh and 12 other countries for one week. Later, the restrictions were extended till July 31. Earlier, some media reported that the suspension would be functional till October 5.

"We got official confirmation that the suspension will be till July 31," the official said.

The foreign ministry also said that during the last one week, 65 Bangladeshi residents in the Lazzio region of Italy have been detected with Covid-19 out of 5,000 tested.

Italian authorities then decided to conduct Covid-19 tests for all Bangladeshis (around 30,000) living the region, in coordination with the Embassy of Bangladesh in Rome.