ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) extended restrictions on travel from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and some other countries for 12 days to avoid the spread of new, more contagious coronavirus variants.
In December, Pakistan joined a slew of countries that placed a temporary restriction on inbound travellers from the UK (direct or indirect)Â over fears of the infectious new coronavirus strain, heightening global panic and causing travel chaos.
The new variant — which British scientists called “VUI – 202012/01” — renewed fears about the pandemic.
The restriction applies to all persons who start their travel from the UK and are in or have been in the UK over the past 10 days. However, transit passengers who do not leave the airside in the UK from destinations other than the UK are allowed entry into Pakistan.
The measures were renewed in January after other countries also applied restrictions on travel from Britain and South Africa.
Later on, the CAA also imposed similar restrictions on travel from Portugal, Netherlands, Tanzania, Botswana, Columbia, Comoros, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Zambia, Brazil, and Mozambique.
These restrictions are to remain until March 14.
The latest development comes as Pakistan in the last 24 hours reported 1,163 new infections of the coronavirus after conducting 31,948 tests, receiving back a positivity ratio of 3.64 per cent.
