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RAWALPINDI: After departure of 75 staff members of the US embassy from Islamabad on March 22, five staff members of the Bulgarian embassy departed for their home country aboard a special flight on Sunday.
Two members of the South African High Commission arrived in Islamabad on board a Qatar Airways flight. They are Emmanuel Zwelinjani, counselor of the South African High Commission, and Abid Ali.
On arrival, the South African High Commission staff members filled out health declaration forms in the aircraft which were collected by staff of the federal health directorate.
Samples of their swab were also collected by the National Institute of Health staff and sent to another section for processing. Along with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) staff, the two officials then proceeded for further health examination with thermal temperature gun and screening.
They did not have symptoms of fever or flu. After the health examination process, they were driven to Islamabad by a senior official of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The cabin crew members of the Qatar Airways flight QR-632 were not allowed to disembark the aircraft due to precautionary measures.
Meanwhile, the PCAA has turned down a request of the Qatar Airways to extend scheduled passenger air service to and from Islamabad till April 30.
In reply to the airline’s request, the PCAA told them that the Pakistan government had decided to suspend further extension of Qatar Airways flight operations to and from Pakistan beyond March 29.
Sunday’s was the last commercial flight of Qatar Airways, operated between Doha and Islamabad. Pakistan suspended its international flight operations on March 22 to contain the spread of coronavirus across the country.
A special aircraft of Ukraine with three crew members on board landed at the Islamabad International Airport at 1.30pm to take back five staff members of the Bulgarian embassy to their home country on Sunday.
According to a senior official of the PCAA, the Ukrainian special flight flew back carrying five staff members of the Bulgarian embassy from Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2020
