Single COVID vaccine dose mandatory for train travel from October: railways

ISLAMABAD: Soon after the NCOC announcement, the Railways said that travellers not having a single dose of COVID vaccine would not be able to board trains from October this year, ARY NEWS reported.

The spokesman for the Pakistan Railways said that the passengers would be required to show proof of their single-dose administration to purchase train tickets from October onwards.

“We will be launching an awareness campaign at railway stations before the restriction comes into place,” the railway official said.

Earlier in the day, in a bid to improve the COVID vaccination drive in the country, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to bar unvaccinated people from travelling in trains.

According to details that emerged from the NCOC meeting headed by Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, the unvaccinated people will not be allowed to travel through trains from October 1.

“Only vaccinated people could avail travelling facilities via train from October 1,” the body supervising the strategy to deal with COVID-19 in the country said.

A report on August 03 had earlier stated that Pakistan Railways put out a notification, calling for a 10pc Covid surcharge to be levied on unvaccinated passengers from September 1 to make up for “the heavy cost” the department is bearing on account of 70% occupancy and additional sanitization.

Besides, the railways said unvaccinated passengers aged above 20 years will not be allowed to travel by trains without showing their vaccination certificates from Jan 1, 2022 and there will be a complete ban on travel without vaccination from April 1, 2022.

The railways will set up vaccination centres at all major stations, including Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rohri.

All PR employees have been given until August 31 to get themselves inoculated against the deadly virus with a warning that their salaries will be withheld in case of failure to get vaccinated.