ISLAMABAD / KARACHI: Amid the scare of coronavirus that has once again alerted the country, the government has ordered strict screening at airports along with increased testing across the country to stop the spread of the virus.

The Sindh government has also written to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to make testing mandatory for all inbound passengers and quarantine the positive cases

A meeting of the NCOC on Thursday also decided to increase fumigation and use sanitisers at the airports and carry out genome sequencing of positive cases to determine the variants of the virus.

The meeting, held at the National Institute of Health (NIH), was chaired by Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel.

Sindh govt seeks tests at airports, quarantines; federal health minister says virus situation ‘not worrisome’

Talking to the media after the meeting, Mr Patel assuaged the concerns and said “there was nothing to worry about” as the country’s positivity was only around 0.5pc.

Moreover, he claimed Pakistan was one of few countries where 90 to 95pc of the population has been vaccinated.

According to government data, over 132 million people have been fully vaccinated, while over 139m have received at least one dose.

Eight million children between 5 and 11 years have also been vaccinated, the minister added.

The situation is under control and no death was reported during the last week, he added.

“We are keeping an eye on all borders and random testing has been increased so that the new variants would be detected,” Mr Patel said.

He added the virus was rapidly spreading in some countries and that all possible steps would be taken to stop its spread in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Border Health Services (BHS) has also directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and other stakeholders to conduct rapid testing at the airports and isolate potential cases.

A letter written by the BHS also advised random sampling of all inbound passengers on international flights.

The CAA, Airport Security Force and all airlines have been asked to facilitate the BHS staff at airports for random sampling.

The decision to increase screenings of inbound travellers was taken after two new variants of Covid-19, Gryphon (Omicron XBB), also termed ‘Nightmare’ variant and BF.7, the sub-lineage of the Omicron variant were reported in China, India, Bangladesh, Japan, the US, Australia and Denmark.

Sindh govt writes to NCOC

In its letter, the Sindh government has also sought mandatory Covid-19 vaccination for international as well as domestic travel.

The letter by Sindh’s health department also suggested isolating passengers showing symptoms similar to Covid-19 and carrying out PCR tests for confirmation.

Those with symptoms but showing negative tests must undergo chest X-rays as a part of pneumonia investigation, the health department requested.

“Mandatory administration of Covid-19 vaccine booster dose with Pfizer Bivalent to citizens who got inoculated six months ago should be ensured, particularly for the elderly people of 65 years age and above,” the letter stated.

The mass gathering may be avoided while mandatory mask-wearing should be ensured in public spaces, it added.

Provincial Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Peechuho said the letter has been written after new variants were discovered in many countries.

She added the variants were yet to arrive in Pakistan, but the authorities must stay vigilant.

Today, the government is “not in a financial position” to spend huge amounts on testing and Covid-related facilities, she said while talking to journalists at an event held at Karachi’s Dow University of Health Sciences on Thursday.

Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2022