RAWALPINDI: The government has decided to reduce the quarantine period before testing for inbound air passengers from 48 hours to the earliest possible in an effort to bring back more stranded Pakistanis from abroad.

Following the prime minister’s directive to bring stranded citizens back home, the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), in coordination with the provinces and health professionals, reduced the quarantine period before testing for inbound air passengers from 48 hours to earliest possible.

Passengers will be transported to quarantine centres and will stay there until the return of tests results, after which they may be quarantined or instructed to self-isolate at home according to the provincial health authorities’ directions.

This strategy will allow to raise the weekly cap for inbound passengers from 7,000-8,000 to 11,000-12,000 under the current policy.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Moeed Yusuf, while announcing the new policy during a press briefing on Monday, said the authorities were working day and night to resolve problems of stranded Pakistanis.

Inbound passengers will be allowed a preference between two modes of quarantine, free of cost government quarantine centers or paid government regulated hotels/facilities.

Special PIA flight brings 179 people from Washington

Testing will be conducted as soon as possible after arrival at a quarantine facility. And the passengers with negative Covid-19 results to be sent home with guidelines on home isolation for completion of 14-day period.

Passengers with positive Covid-19 results to be resolved as following:

Symptomatic patients will be treated as per prescribed health protocols. A symptomatic patients from other provinces will be treated as per prescribed health protocols and to be kept in isolation/quarantine facilities until completion of 14 days.

Positive cases will not be returned to home province until completion of quarantine period. A symptomatic patients from host province will have home quarantine capability reviewed. If the provincial authorities deem home quarantine to be feasible, patient may be sent home with guidelines on home isolation for 14 days.

Otherwise, patients will be treated as per prescribed health protocols and will be kept in isolation/quarantine facilities until completion of 14 days.

It is also important to note that with the increased number of inbound passengers and keeping in mind the local situation, while we will continue to use our best capabilities to test patients within 24 hours, and then release them after the return of test results, some delays will inevitably have to be catered for as quarantine and testing capacities come under stress.

The total number of passengers planned from May 11 to 21 is approximately 11,000, with stranded passengers being repatriated from at least 22 countries. Countries from which majority flights are incoming are the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the US and Oman.

These policies have been implemented in coordination with provincial authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, Dr Yusuf said. He said they were looking at the complete data for inbound passengers, hoping that it would allow return of stranded Pakistanis back home without worsening the health situation in the country.

“We have been able to repatriate about 23,000 Pakistanis so far, with a total of about 100,000 Pakistanis still registered as stranded across the globe,” he said.

Separately, a Pakistan International Airl­ines (PIA) special flight carrying 179 passengers arrived at Islamabad International Airport from Washington at 5.30pm on Monday.

Following permission by the US to operate chartered flights for repatriation of stranded Pakistanis from the United States, the PIA operated its first special flight from Washington DC to Islamabad on Monday with 179 passengers on board.

The PIA flight PK-8722 landed at IIAP at 5.30pm. All passengers and crew members were subjected to thermal scanning test by the health authorities; however, no suspected case of Covid-19 was detected.

The United States Department of Transportation had already granted permission to PIA to operate 12 round-trip or one-way chartered flights to evacuate citizens stranded in both countries.

This was the first time the national flag carrier would be operating direct flights to the US as the PIA planes did not have the capacity to fly directly to the US before the 9/11 attacks, the PIA spokesman had said.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2020