Nov 27, 2021: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Omar has said that Pakistan has banned travel from six South African countries and Hong Kong following the emergence of a new strain of Corona virus.

Asad, head of the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), made the annoucement in a tweet from his official handle on Saturday.

“The emergence of this new type has made it all the more important to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years of age and older,” he added.

In a separate statement, the NCOC said that the appearance of Omicron variant in South Africa and its spread to adjacent areas has resulted in complete ban on direct / indirect domestic travel from South Africa, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana.

According to the NCOC, these countries are also included in “Category C”.

In case of extreme emergencies, Pakistani travelers traveling from these countries will be allowed only after receiving exemption and health / testing protocol will be ensured for these travelers including vaccination certificate, negative PCR and rapid antigen testing at airport.

Whereas, the RAT positive cases will undergo 10 days mandatory quarantine (government/self-paid) and PCR test will be conducted on the 10th day in quarantine.

However, to facilitate stranded Pakistanis, travel from these countries till December 5, will be allowed without exemption but the above-mentioned health/testing protocols will remain applicable, it added.

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