THIS is with reference to the report ‘Plans for UK travel dashed as Pakistan put on red list’ (April 3). Pakistan, along with Bangladesh, Kenya and the Philippines, has been placed on the British government’s travel ‘red list’.

While I acknowledge that the UK government must do what is required to protect its citizens and the country from Covid, all is not what it seems on the surface in the decision-making behind these travel restrictions.

According to recent data, France, Germany and India have substantially higher numbers of Covid infections per 100,000 population. These figures are published weekly by international news agencies and are considered reliable the world over. The countries put on the said red list, as quoted by the same news agencies, have contributed a miniscule fraction to the global Covid toll. Does it make sense?

To prevent the spread of the South African and Brazilian variants, Pakistan has already banned entry for people travelling from Botswana, Brazil, Columbia, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. This goes to show that Pakistan is taking due precautions in this regard.

It is shocking to notice that India, France and Germany are not on the British ‘red list’, while Pakistan is. It appears that the British government is not making decisions based on science or data. In fact, I would argue that it is knowingly and consciously discriminating against Pakistan and its community while turning a blind eye to other countries with a worse track record of Covid infections.

In terms of what Pakistan has been doing recently to tackle the Covid situation, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has been leading a unified national effort against Covid, while the decisions are being implemented by the National Coordination Committee (NCC) set up for the pandemic.

More recently, the government has been asking the public to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs), and stressing the merits of using masks along with practising social distancing.

Pakistan had been successful in tackling the first and the second Covid waves and is likely to overcome the third wave with guidance from the top and cooperation from the masses.

Sohail Azmat Bokhari

Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2021