Abdul Basit
Pakistan on Tuesday announced international flights resumption at all Pakistani airports except Gwadar, Turbat from March 21, it was announced by Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.
The minister also announced that from March 21 the federal cabinet has decided all domestic airports with the exception of the Gwadar and Turbat airport will be opened for international flights.Flights that are arriving will be disinfected via a chemical spray.
After March 21, any international visitor will first be tested for coronavirus. If they test negative, they will be given a boarding pass and they will be allowed to travel.
Domestic flight passengers will be screened on both arriving and departing locations.
Earlier it was announced that the total number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan’s Sindh province, bordering Iran, on Tuesday rose to 155, bringing the country’s tally of COVID-19 infections to 189, an official said.
Official said that Sindh has 155 positive cases, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 15, Balochistan 10, Gilgit-Baltistan 5, Islamabad 2 and Punjab 1.
“So far 119 patients in Sukkur have tested positive while 115 tested negative. In addition to this, 36 tested positive in the province — 34 under treatment and two cured,” Spokesperson for the Sindh government Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Tuesday tweeted.
Provincial authorities on Tuesday confirmed five new cases of the novel coronavirus in the Sindh province, pushing the country’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 189, Wahab was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.
The number of quarantined pilgrims in Taftan where over 9,000, who have returned from Iran and have been quarantined by the Balochistan government in a ‘tent city’, the report added.
After completing the 14-day incubation period, the pilgrims were allowed to travel back to their cities. However, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sent the pilgrims to isolation facilities in Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan and tested them before allowing further travel. – abdulbasit@theuaenews.com
