Pakistan resumes international flight services as COVID-19 tally jumps to 66,457

Islamabad has allowed the resumption of international flights only for outbound passengers from Saturday from all airports across the country, except Gwadar and Turbat, Dawn reported.

Islamabad has allowed the resumption of international flights only for outbound passengers from Saturday from all airports across the country, except Gwadar and Turbat, Dawn reported. Aviation Division spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar said in a press release on Friday that the government had decided to allow outbound international flights (scheduled, non-scheduled, and chartered flights) from 11.59 p.m. (local time) on Saturday night.

The release said that both national and foreign airlines would be allowed to operate from all international airports of Pakistan, with the exception of Gwadar and Turbat. Outbound flights mean that planes will arrive empty and take passengers from Pakistan. The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for outbound international flights had already been issued according to which airlines would also be required to follow SOPs of the destination country. Additionally, the disinfection of aircraft will be ensured and no congestion at airports will be allowed, the release said further.

The government had suspended flight operation of international passenger, chartered and private flights to and from Pakistan on March 21 till April 4, though special and cargo flights were allowed, and then extended the ban up to May 31, due to a surge in the number of coronavirus patients across the country. On Friday, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) which said: "The restrictions on inbound passenger operation into Pakistan shall continue. However, special permission is required from the government of Pakistan for national [and] foreign carriers and charter operations for flights with inbound passengers on case to case basis."

"Additionally, diplomatic, special, and cargo flights to and from Pakistan shall also be permitted," the notice to airmen said. Under the SOPs, the crew of a foreign airliner landing in Pakistan would not be allowed to disembark from the plane.

Nearly one and a half months after imposing the lockdown across the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to ease the lockdown in phases. As per Express Tribune reports, the nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients now stands at 66,457 with 24,104 cases in Punjab, 26,113 in Sindh, 9,067 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 4,087 in Balochistan, 660 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 2,192 in Islamabad and 234 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The virus has claimed at least 1,395 lives while about 24,131 coronavirus patients have recovered. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)