Second wave: Pakistan tells travelers from 8 more countries to undergo coronavirus screening

LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday removed eight countries from the list of nations whose passengers are allowed to enter Pakistan without a COVID-19 test.

The latest travel advisory divides international travellers into two categories: Category A will not need a negative COVID-19 test, while those in category B will be required to undergo coronavirus screening 96 hours prior to boarding a flight to Pakistan.

Keeping in view a COVID-19 surge across the globe, the number of countries in category A has been reduced from 30 to 22. The countries still in category A include Singapore, China, Cuba, Estonia, Japan, Ghana, Norway, Turkey, Vietnam, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and others.

The new advisory requires airlines to ensure that coronavirus SOPs are followed and makes it mandatory for passengers to fill out the health declaration form.

The notification has been issued by CAA’s director air transport and will be valid from November 6 till December 31.

The advisory comes as more than 44.5 million worldwide have been infected by the coronavirus and nearly 1.2 million have lost their lives to it.

While Pakistan has seen 332,816 people infected by the virus lost 6,795 people to the virus.