ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday announced that all Pakistanis stranded in Category C countries, will be allowed to return to Pakistan without exemption till December 31.
According to the NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s anti-Covid strategy, passengers with a valid National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) or Pakistan Origin Card (POC) holders would be allowed to return as well.
Category C is a list of countries from which travel is banned, except under certain conditions. The countries currently on the list are Croatia, Hungary, Netherlands, Ukraine, Ireland, Slovenia, Vietnam, Poland, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia.
The statement further stated that passengers travelling from Category C countries will be required to submit proof of vaccination and take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test 48 hours prior to boarding. Mandatory quarantine will also remain in place for travellers from countries struck by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
It further maintained that since vaccinations of ages 15 to 18 have not begun in some countries, the requirement for the submission of full vaccination of in-bound passengers between these ages has been extended till January 31, 2022, instead of December 1st, 2021.
Last week, the NCOC had added nine more countries to Category C while reviewing the global Covid-19 situation amid Omicron’s spread. It had allowed stranded Pakistanis to return till Dec 15. The review had come after a travel ban was placed on six countries and Hong Kong in November due to the new strain.
Omicron has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a “highly transmissible” variant — the same category that includes the predominant Delta variant.
