Govt bans flights from 12 African states

Eases travel restrictions on flights coming in from UK

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has placed a travel ban on 12 African countries under the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) and eased the restrictions on flights coming in from the United Kingdom.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), there are three categories – A, B and C – in which countries are placed accordingly to contain the spread of Covid. Category A passengers do not require a Covid test, the ones in ‘B’ need a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test conducted 72 hours before travelling to Pakistan and the countries placed in ‘C’ must obtain clearance from the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) prior to sending their flights to Pakistan.

On Saturday, CAA Director Air Transport Irfan Sabir issued a new travel guideline placing the African countries in Category C and imposing strict travel restrictions in view of the dangers of the spread of the virus.

Read more: Pakistan extends Covid-19 SOPs for inbound flights till February 28

The new notification will be effective from March 23 to April 5, 2021.

Twelve African countries, including South Africa, Peru, Kenya, Brazil, Portugal, Colombia, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Botswana, were included in Category C.

The CAA removed UK from Category C and added it to ‘B’.

“All countries not specified in categories A and B, fall in Category B.”

In the notification, 20 countries, including Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia, have been placed in Category A, under which Covid tests are not required for passengers.