COVID-19: Pakistan bans domestic air travel for unvaccinated as cases cross 1 million mark

Islamabad: Pakistan has banned the domestic air travel for unvaccinated people as the COVID-19 cases crossed the 1 million-mark in the country on Sunday, according to officials. The travel restriction, imposed by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), will be applicable from 1 August on unvaccinated people of over 18 years of age. “Restriction is for domestic air travel and people travelling from Pakistan to abroad or from abroad to Pakistan are exempted from restriction. It is also not applicable on link flights if these are within 72 hours of arrival or departure,” according to an NCOC document. Partially vaccinated people, foreign nationals, Pakistani nationals having documentary proof of vaccination abroad and patients with clinical conditions will be exempted from the restriction, it said. Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services said that 45 people died in the last 24 hours due to the COVID-19, taking the death toll to 23,016. It said that 2,819 new cases were reported, taking the national tally to 10,04,694. The positivity rate reached 6.32 per cent which is the highest during the fourth wave of the pandemic which hit the country early this month. Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who is also the chief of the NCOC, said that the coronavirus death toll in Pakistan was lower as compared to other regional countries. “Covid deaths/million population in our region: Iran 1,037, Nepal 326, India 301, Sri Lanka 186, Afghanistan 160, Bangladesh 113, Pakistan 102,” he tweeted. He said that the risk was not over, urging people to get vaccinated. In another development, a senior Supreme Court judge and his wife tested positive for coronavirus. In November last year, 59-year-old Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, the then chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, died due to the contagion.