138 Pakistanis died from coronavirus in different countries: FO

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday said at least 138 Pakistanis have died from the coronavirus in different countries.

“Most countries do not give ethnicities of those who succumbed to Coronavirus. Most figures shared are informal and anecdotal as to how many Pakistanis or Pakistani origin people have died,” Spokesperson Ayesha Farooqui said at a weekly media briefing.

According to an unofficial estimate, she added, a total of 138 Pakistanis or Pakistani origin people in different countries of the world have died due to COVID 19.

To a question about how many Pakistani families approached the foreign office and Pakistani missions for evacuation of dead bodies who died due to coronavirus, the spokesperson said standard operating procedure (SOPs) have been devised by the National Institute of Health (NIH) for repatriation of dead bodies. These details are available on the dedicated website of COVID-19, she added.

She said over the past few days as part of the third phase of repatriation plan that commenced April 20, 81 nationals were repatriated from South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

From the UAE, 1453 nationals have been repatriated through six flights on April 20, including 100 prisoners, she detailed, adding from the Maldives, nine stranded Pakistani nationals were brought home safely on April 22.

“So far the total number of our nationals brought back home in the current third phase of the plan stands at 5079.” Ms Farooqui said.

“In addition to this, in the last few days 41 stranded Pakistanis were brought back from India through the Wagha border; 195 truck drivers came through Afghanistan on 17 April, as well as over 1000 other stranded Pakistanis came home through the Pakistan Afghanistan border. That brings a total of 1254 nationals that came home through our land borders in the last few days.”