LONDON: Pakistani nationals have been stopped from boarding flights at the United Kingdom's Heathrow Airport despite having a negative coronavirus test result.
According to Geo.tv, airlines refused to allow passengers from boarding planes despite Pakistan government's directives that Pakistani passport-holders and students would be allowed to travel to the country , provided they hold a negative coronavirus test conducted within 72 hours of the travel time.
The passengers staged a protest over the non-cooperation of the airlines at the Heathrow Airport.
Countries including Pakistan placed travel restrictions and closed their borders to the United Kingdom after a new strain of the coronavirus was detected earlier this month.
The new strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.17 lineage, is not the first variant of COVID-19 pandemic, but it is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the UK.
It has since been detected in some European countries, South Africa, India, Japan and Pakistan.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) placed a temporary restriction on inbound flights from the UK on December 21 and made it mandatory for travelers to download the Pass Track App app — which records the basic information of passengers arriving in Pakistan — before coming to Pakistan.
A day later, the authority relaxed the policy and announced that Pakistani passport-holders who have been issued Business, Visitor or Transit visas by British authorities could return to the country provided they had a negative PCR test.
The test, however, must have been taken 72 hours prior to the start of their travel to Pakistan, the aviation authority had said.
The government had also allowed Pakistanis who hold study, family, work and settlement visas in the UK to return to Pakistan "if their visas are expiring within the next 30 days from the issuance of this letter while holding negative PCR Test Reports conducted within the 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan".
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