Asad Umar hopes UK will remove Pakistan from red list

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has expressed the hope that the UK government will soon remove Pakistan from the red list as the country’s overall track record of managing the epidemic is much better than certain other countries, which are part of the UK’s Amber List.

During his meeting with the acting British High Commissioner Alison Blackburne in Islamabad on Tuesday, Asad Umar shared with the high commissioner the details of Pakistan’s strategy to combat the pandemic, which had helped the country in saving lives and livelihoods in accordance with the vision of the prime minister. He asserted that Pakistan, being a responsible state, would never allow corona positive people – who pose a health risk to other societies -- to travel abroad, adding, “Most of the tests are PCR tests done by laboratories connected to the national dashboard either directly or via provincial dashboards." Asad Umar said that the authenticity of Pakistan’s data has been recognized by international partners.During the rendezvous, it was highlighted that the details of samples sequenced during July-August 2021 have been shared with WHO and regular updates were also being shared.