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. “While all the countries in the world have worked hard to build and enhance their public health system, our shared objective is a reduction of risk that comes via international travel, and we hope that the UK government will remove Pakistan from the red list as soon as possible,” Umar maintained. 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.

The genomic sequencing confirms the Delta (Indian) variant to be the dominant strain in Pakistan and while the Beta variant has been sporadically detected; however, its prevalence is not greater than the global average.

Asad Umar proposed that Pakistan could share the results of its data in real-time with the UK if it helped to provide better insights. On the occasion, British High Commissioner, Alison Blackburne, appreciated Pakistan's efforts to tackle the pandemic while stabilizing the country’s economy. She said the UK had a great interest in Pakistan but due to the pandemic, the activities had been restricted, adding, “Still we are doing what we can. We hope things will improve soon.”