ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday barred the inbound movement of pedestrians from Afghanistan and Iran to “restrain import of any new mutation” of the coronavirus to country as it struggled to contain surging critical cases.
The development came as Pakistan’s active Covid-19 cases totalled 89,661 after 4,414 more people tested positive, while 113 died.The latest step, which comes into effect on the midnight of May 5, and remains in force until midnight May 20, came after the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) reviewed the current policy of land border management with Afghanistan and Iran.
In a press release, the NCOC said the policy was reviewed to ensure regulated inbound pedestrian movement and effective management of Covid protocols at border terminals. The revised land border management policy will be effective from midnight May 4/5 (0001 PST) till midnight May 19/20 (0001 PST) and applicable only to inbound pedestrians with no effect on existing cargo and trade (bilateral or Afghan transit trade) movement.
The border terminals will remain open seven days a week whereas the strength of law enforcement agencies and health staff at the terminals would be increased to implement testing protocols and to control high traffic density.
Inbound pedestrian movement will cease with effect from midnight 4/5 May (0001 PST) with the exception of Pakistani nationals in Afghanistan and Iran who want to return and cases of “extreme medical emergency”. All outbound pedestrian movement is permissible, it added.
The testing and quarantine protocols mentioned that inbound pedestrians will undergo rapid antigen test. Positive cases — Pakistani nationals only — will be taken to nearby quarantine facilities. Inbound pedestrians with Afghan exemptions will also undergo testing at border terminals. The positive cases, if any, will be sent back.
Thermal scanning for all drivers and co-drivers will be carried out on arrival at the border terminal. Symptomatic cases will undergo rapid antigen testing, and positive cases will be dealt as per the procedure spelled out above.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus continued to ravage the Punjab province, with its health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid revealing that ventilators occupancy in Gujranwala had risen to 100 per cent and that the provincial government had rushed five more vents there.
She said coronavirus infection rate could only be overcome by strict implementation of coronavirus SOPs. She also said in Lahore, the infection rate had dropped to 18 per cent from 23 per cent after strict implementation of SOPs.
To a question, she informed that the most affected area in Punjab remained Layyah, where the positivity rate of coronavirus “surged to 31 per cent”.To a question about oxygen supply, she said the Punjab health department had set up a 280-bed field hospital in the Lahore Expo Centre with uninterrupted oxygen supply, adding that 10 ventilators had also been installed there.
The minister said the government had decided to install oxygen generators at big teaching hospitals across the province while the procurement for generators had already been started. “All these preparations have been made to prevent any emergency situation,” she said.
Since the pandemic began, a total of 829,933 cases were detected, with deaths now numbering 18,070.
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