Pakistan abolishes rapid antigen tests for inbound passengers

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday decided to abolish Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) for inbound passengers from February 8, ARY News reported.

Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar chaired a session of the country’s nerve centre of Covid-19 response to review the coronavirus situation and the ongoing vaccination drive.

During the meeting, it was decided that Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) for inbound passengers on arrival at Pakistani airports would be abolished from Tuesday.

Furthermore, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also decided to allow full capacity crowd at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to enjoy Pakistan Super League (PSL) 7 matches from Feb 16.

The country’s top platform overseeing Covid response decided to increase the number of spectators to 50 per cent for PSL matches to be played at the Lahore stadium until Feb 15 and allow full house from Feb 16 onwards.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan is witnessing a downward trend as the country has reported 3,338 new pandemic cases over the past 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 44,779 samples were tested, out of which 3,338 turned out to be positive, showing an infection rate of 7.45 per cent as compared to yesterday’s 8.69 per cent.

The nationwide tally of confirmed COVID-19 infections rose to 1,463,111 with the addition of 3,338 new cases.