Six more int'l passengers test positive for COVID-19

KARACHI: Pakistan has witnessed an increase in the COVID-19 cases among passengers coming from foreign countries as six more travellers were tested positive at Karachi airport, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The health department confirmed that six passengers who arrived in Karachi from Dubai have tested positive for COVID-19. The officials detailed that three COVID-positive international passengers were aged above 60 years while others are between the age range of 35-41.

It emerged that the passengers have travelled through a foreign airline from Dubai to Karachi.

Read: CAA approves 30pc addition in international flight operation

Earlier in the day, it was learnt that as many as sixty passengers from Dubai tested positive for COVID-19 at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport.

The passengers landing at the Peshawar airport especially from Gulf countries continue to test positive for COVID-19. 140 passengers had turned out to be COVID-positive at the airport after undergoing rapid testing before leaving the airport premises.

On May 1, the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) had devised protocols for the inbound passengers, imposing a condition of COVID testing at Pakistan airports.

Read: Covid vaccine: Pakistan lifts age restriction for people wishing to travel abroad

The protocols released on NCOC’s Twitter handle for the inbound passengers stated that people having Pakistani passports could return to the country and had to carry a negative PCR test report performed 72 hours before travel.

Besides this, the passengers will undergo rapid COVID testing at the Pakistani airports and would stay in quarantine for 10 days at their homes.

In case of testing positive, the passengers will have to shift to a quarantine facility, where they would be re-tested for COVID 19 on the eight-day. The guidelines stated that the passenger would bear the expense of the isolation facility and in case of testing positive for the second time, the passenger would be shifted to a hospital.

All inbound passengers would be bound to register themselves on Track App while those deported would be exempted from it.