Special arrangements made for return of Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan: NCOC

Patients and students in emergency cases to be granted special permissions

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced on Wednesday that special arrangements had been made for the return of Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan.

The country’s western border was closed on June 5 due to the increasingly worrying situation of Covid-19 in Afghanistan.

The NCOC meeting chaired by Planning Minister Asad Umar maintained that apart from Pakistani and Afghan nationals stranded on both sides during the closure, patients and students in emergency cases have been granted special permissions.

Read Pakistan hands over seven containers of Covid supplies to Afghanistan

According to the nerve centre of the government’s synchronised strategy to contain the global pandemic, Pakistani nationals who have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be placed on mandatory quarantine for 10 days if they test positive.

The NCOC further added that those who have not been vaccinated or given only one dose will, in any case, be quarantined in their respective province for 10 days.

Moreover, the instructions issued earlier for emergency medical cases and Afghan students will remain in effect.

The special meeting of the NCOC was attended by chief secretaries from all four provinces via video link.

The forum also expressed concern over the increase in Covid cases and took notice of violations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in various sectors.

Instructions were given to all provinces to take special measures to implement SOPs and expedite the vaccination process.

The Covid nerve centre further issued special orders for implementation of SOPs ahead of Eidul Azha.

Read more Covid curbs may return if SOPs violated, warns NCOC

Daily update

Pakistan reported 1,517 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, taking the country's Covid-19 tally to 966,007.

The country's death toll climbed to 22,469 after 17 more people succumbed to the deadly disease.

Meanwhile, 877 patients recovered from the virus in a day, taking total recoveries to 909,525.

According to the NCOC, total active Covid-19 cases across the country were reported to be 34,013.