Pakistan asks UK for removal from red list

LONDON: Pakistan has asked the British government to remove its name from the red list, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Moazzam Ahmed Khan said Thursday, following the latest review by Britain of its travel curbs.

The passengers on the red list require a costly 10-day hotel quarantine on arrival. Georgia, Mexico, and France’s Indian Ocean territories of La Reunion, and Mayotte have also been moved onto the red list, reports Geo News.

Moreover, passengers from red list countries need to take a COVID-19 test before they enter England — children aged 10 and under do not need to take it.

The changes — which will come into effect at 0300 GMT on Sunday — put India, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and France on England's so-called "amber" list of countries, under its traffic light system for arriving travelers.

The government last month eased the rules to allow people from amber countries fully jabbed with a vaccine approved by regulators in the United States and European Union to enter without having to self-isolate.

Meanwhile, Khan said the coronavirus situation was better in Pakistan, except for Karachi, "and our government has done tremendous work in its COVID-19 response". "Pakistan's coronavirus response has been acknowledged globally," he said.

The British government should "appreciate Pakistan's coronavirus response, review its decisions, and consider Pakistan's recommendations," the envoy added. All Parties Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Pakistan chief Yasmin Qureshi and MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah, slammed the British government for keeping Pakistan on the red list and removing India, Qatar, and other countries from it.

British lawmakers Yasmin Qureshi and Naz Shah were of the view that coronavirus rates in Pakistan were averaging around 4,500 per day, around five times lower than the United Kingdom but in India, where the delta variant emerged and precipitated Britain’s third wave, cases were at around 40,000 per day.

Pakistan has done relatively well compared to its neighbours and has managed to do this whilst avoiding a lockdown, Qureshi said. Labour MP for Bradford West Naz Shah said: "The last time this govt favoured political choices rather than science and risked our nation’s COVID efforts, it failed to place India on the Red list."