RAWALPINDI: As many countries are imposing additional travel restrictions due to surge in Covid-19 cases – the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has extended travel ban on inbound passengers arriving from category C countries till May 4, 2021.

The government had also been planning to limit the number of flights into the country. The countries, categorised C, were South Africa, Botswana, Chana, Kenya, Comoros, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, Seychelles, Somalia, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela and India.

Upon observing an increasing number of Covid-19 cases in neighbouring India, the federal government had announced to place India in category C on April 19, in order to halt the spread of Covid-19 variants in Pakistan. A fresh notification issued by the PCAA with the list of countries categorised into A, B and C was also shared with 20 countries placed in category A.

The revised categorised country list effective from April 21, 2021 to April 24, 2021 concerning inbound travel to Pakistan has been further extended until April 30, 2021, the notification stated, adding travellers from 20 countries falling in category A, did not require Covid-19 test before entry into Pakistan. All countries not specified in category A and C, fall in category B.

Category A countries are Australia, Bhutan, China, Fiji, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri-Lanka, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago and Vietnam.

International travellers from countries not specified in category A, require Covid-19 PCR test before commencement of travel to Pakistan (max 72 hours old).

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2021