Punjab minister quarantined himself after returning Pakistan from US

LAHORE: The Punjab Minister for Higher Education and Information Technology Board, Raja Yasir Humayun, has quarantined himself after returning Pakistan from the United States (US), ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Raja Yasir Humayun went into self-isolation after returning home today and quarantined himself into a private hotel in Lahore. The minister was trapped in the United States for 1.5 months due to the suspension of flight operation following the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

Humayun and Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had departed together for the US on an official visit, however, the science minister returned home before the suspension of flight operations.

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Earlier in the day, it emerged that the count of nationals ready to return home is consistently increasing each day and around 63,000 Pakistanis have registered themselves with us so far.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis, Zulfiqar Bukhari and SAPM on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning Moeed Yusuf called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to discuss the repatriation of nationals from foreign countries.

The special assistants to PM Imran Khan, Zulfiqar Bukhari and Moeed Yusuf, have met the foreign minister where they exchanged views on the ongoing repatriation process of Pakistanis amid coronavirus crisis.

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FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the third phase of repatriation is successfully continued as more than 12,000 nationals have been brought back to Pakistan from different countries.

“The count of nationals ready to return home is consistently increasing each day and around 63,000 Pakistanis have registered themselves with us so far.”

The foreign minister said that the federal government has planned to bring 7,000 Pakistanis home on a weekly basis during the third phase. The capacity to ensure the safe return of nationals has increased with the cooperation of provinces, said Qureshi.

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He added that implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) was continued on all active airports of the country to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The foreign minister, however, urged to adopt additional measures for containing COVID-19 in view of the rise in locally transmitted cases. The federal government is also making maximum efforts to overcome the economic disasters of the pandemic.