Thailand returnees cleared of COVID-19, allowed to go home

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani passengers who were quarantined in Islamabad upon return from Thailand were allowed to proceed to their homes on Sunday after their tests for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were declared negative, ARY News reported.

Islamabad deputy commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat said none of the Thailand returnees tested positive for the disease.

He said they were all flown back to their home country from Thailand via a special flight on Saturday. He added the passengers were provided with all facilities they needed at the quarantine centres.

Speaking to media, one of the Thailand returnees praised the government’s treatment of the flyers at the isolation centres.

The passengers were also tested for the virus symptoms by specially designated health officers upon arrival at the Islamabad airport a day earlier and then transported to quarantine facilities.

An international flight carrying 170 Pakistanis stranded in Bangkok had landed at the Islamabad International Airport on March 28. A Thai Airways flight TG-349 flew back the Pakistanis trapped at Bangkok airport.

The passengers included around 51 countrymen who remained trapped at Bangkok airport from March 21 due to cancellation of flights amid global coronavirus outbreak.

The other over 100 passengers were the ones trapped in nearby countries including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, Vietnam and Cambodia.