Pakistan reduces international flights to 20 percent

Pakistan has reduced the number of inbound international flights to 20 percent from 5 May till 20 May 2021 in order to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, said the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.

“In view of prevailing global and regional disease trends, Pakistan has decided to reduce inbound international travel from 5 May to 20th May.” said the NCOC on Twitter while sharing a press release regarding the matter. “International flights to Pakistan will be reduced to 20% during this period.”

The press release states that inbound air traffic will operate at 20 percent of the total current quantum while there will be no change in the Category C list countries with Pakistani passport holders with short-term visa allowed to travel back subject to exemptions by the committee as per procedures in vogue.

All inbound travelers to Pakistan, including those from Category C list countries will need to have a negative RT PCR which is not more than 72 hours old while a rapid antigen test will be done on arrival at the airport.

Negative cases will undergo a 10 days self-quarantine at home while positive cases will be shifted to self-paid facility for 10 days by the Provincial or District Administration as per COVID-19 guidelines.

For the positive cases, another RT PCR test will be conducted on Day 8 and if it comes back negative, the passenger will be allowed to proceed home but if the test comes back positive, the passenger will be shifted to hospital.

Furthermore, the NCOC states that all travelers must register on the Passtrack App before coming back to Pakistan, however, deportees are exempted from the requirement.

The NCOC has decided to reduce inbound international flights in order to curb the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.

On Saturday, the country recorded 4,696 new COVID-19 cases along with 146 deaths as per the data provided by the NCOC.

Read more: Petrol prices in Pakistan remain unchanged from 1 – 15 May 2021.

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