Ag Agencies
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday announced slashing inbound international flights to 20 per cent for a 15-day period and banned Youm-e-Ali processions as its latest bid to rein in a third coronavirus that threatened to overwhelm healthcare systems with high case loads.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), in view of the prevailing global and regional disease trends, Pakistan has decided to reduce inbound international travel from May 5 to May 20. “International flights to Pakistan will be reduced to 20 per cent during this period,” it said in a press release.
Amid high disease prevalence in various parts of the world and current disease situation in the country with corresponding “extreme stress on critical care system”, Pakistan has decided to significantly cut inbound international air travel.
The move came as Pakistan’s active infections surged to 90,553 after 4,696 more people tested positive for the virus in the 24 hours leading to Saturday. One-hundred-forty-six Covid patients died in the same period. It also coincided with the confirmation of the South African and Brazilian variants in Pakistan, according to the Ministry of National Health Services, a day after Sindh’s health minister sounded the alarm on the variants having been found in the province.
According to the NCOC statement, inbound air traffic will operate at 20 per cent of total current quantum. There is no change in existing Category C list countries, from which international travel is restricted. Category A countries are those which do not require a negative PCR test prior to travel to Pakistan, while Category B countries — of which the UK is a part of — require negative PCR tests before travel.
Pakistani passport holders (stranded/short term visa) are allowed to travel to Pakistan subject to exemption by the committee as per procedures in vogue.
The standard health and Covid protocols apply “across the board for all inbound travellers to Pakistan” including Cat C list countries. Passengers will require negative RT PCR test before travel to Pakistan, which is a maximum 72-hours-old. Rapid antigen testing will be carried out on arrival at airports in Pakistan; negative cases will undergo 10 days self-quarantine at home with stringent TTQ protocols.
Positive cases will be shifted by provincial / district administration to self-paid facility for 10 days quarantine with TTQ of contacts (if any). The second RT PCR test will be conducted on the eighth day of quarantine period. In case of negative result, the passenger will be allowed to go home. In case of a positive result, passenger will either undergo additional quarantine period or will be shifted to hospital as per the advice of health authorities.
All inbound travellers have to register on the Passtrack App before travelling to Pakistan, but deportees are exempt of the rule. The NCOC will review the decisions on May 18.
In another measure, the NCOC decided to ban all sorts of processions whilst permitting Majalis under strict Covid SOPs on the occasion of Youm-e-Ali. The decision was taken keeping in view the risk factor due to the ongoing surge in Covid-19, especially in major urban centres.
The forum emphasised the need to engage the religious scholars and community leaders at provincial and district levels for the implementation of these decisions. A total of 825,519 cases were detected so far, while the overall death toll was 17,957. Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said one sample of the SARS-CoV-2; B.1.351 (South African) and one sample of SARS-CoV-2; P1 (Brazil) variants were detected at the National Institute of Health (NIH) through genome sequencing.