Domestic air travellers from Arakan State to face pre-boarding Covid test requirement

By DMG 23 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
23 October 2021, Sittwe 

Domestic air travellers from Arakan State will be required to show documents indicating that they are free of Covid-19 beginning next week, in accordance with instructions from the Ministry of Health, said the state’s Public Health Department. 

The document should show the results of a Covid-19 test taken within 36 hours prior to the individual’s flight, said Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of Arakan State’s Public Health Department. 

“Commercial flights will resume their services. So, the Ministry of Health has released some regulations for travellers. A person whose [test] result is negative for Covid-19 will be allowed to board a flight. The result should be [no more than] 36 hours before the flight schedule,” he explained. 

Travellers will have to pay for their own tests and the department does not yet know the cost of the test, the state’s Public Health Department said. 

If a traveller tests positive for Covid-19 after they have bought a flight ticket, the fare will be refunded, according to flight ticket agents. 

Dr. Soe Win Paing said his department has placed an order for Covid-19 test kits from Yangon. 

“The test kits will be distributed to Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Thandwe, where there are airports. We are also preparing what we need to be ready,” he said. 

Some have criticised the implementation of a Covid-19 test requirement for air passengers at a time when virus infections have been decreasing for several weeks running. 

U Khaing Kaung San, secretary of the Arakan Humanitarian Coordination Team (AHCT), said air travellers should not be tested for Covid-19 as a pre-boarding requirement currently. 

“At the moment, the department should try to vaccinate people against Covid-19. Students from 12 years old are now [eligible to be] vaccinated. The test cannot be made for all people in the country. And, people in Yangon are travelling as normal now. So, I want to say that the Covid-19 test for flight travellers in Arakan State is a wrong plan,” he said. 

On October 17, the government began a vaccination push targeting students ages 12 years old and up in Arakan State, and the department has so far administered the vaccine to more than 400,000 people statewide, the Public Health Department said.  

A total of 4,904 cases and 478 deaths were reported in Arakan State during the ongoing third wave of Covid-19, according to department figures as of October 19.