Pakistan announces ban on Air Travel to Unvaccinated Passengers

PakistanOn Friday, Pakistan's civil aviation authority has announced to ban air travel by unvaccinated passengers. As per media reports, the step has been taken in order to make a stronger push for vaccinations and avoid stringent lockdowns in the future.

A Geo News report said, "Adhering to National Command and Operation Centre's (NCOC) directive, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, in a notification said that  "from October 1, only fully vaccinated passengers aged 18 and above will be allowed to undertake air travel, to, from and within Pakistan, provided they furnish proof of certification against the Covid-19." 

On Thursday, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has announced the ban on twitter. He wrote, "Only fully vaccinated passengers of age 18 years and above will be allowed to undertake domestic air travel within Pakistan."

"Passengers below 18 years may be allowed to travel to Pakistan without a vaccination certificate, while passengers between 15 and 18 years will be allowed to travel inbound to the country without a vaccination certificate up to October 31", the report stated.

Further, the report said, "Patients who have been advised against administering the vaccine will be allowed to travel, provided they have a certificate from the doctor. Passengers holding foreign passports and travelling outbound from Pakistan have been exempted from this ban." 

"Passengers who have travelled to Pakistan before October 1, will also be allowed to travel outbound without a certificate", as per a Geo TV report.

As per the data shared by the NCOC, "Pakistan has witnessed 1,742 fresh cases of Covid-19 and 39 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, with 47,832 active cases."