Pakistan to ease inbound air travel curbs starting Nov 10

Pakistan will implement revised inbound air travel rules starting November 10 in accordance with recommendations from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

A meeting of the NCOC was held on Wednesday, in which it was noted that "owing to mass vaccination undertaken by various countries, a downward trend has been witnessed in all COVID indicators across the globe", a press release said.

According to the statement, inbound air traffic will operate "at full quantum" with effect from 10 November 2021.

The NCOC statement noted that obligatory vaccination for inbound travel to Pakistan was enforced from October 1, but now, the COVID-related travel policy and testing protocols have been revised.

Under the revised rules, countries have been placed into categories 'B' and 'C', with each category necessitating the fulfillment of certain testing criteria.

Category 'C' countries

a. According to NCOC, the following countries "on the basis of high positivity, high daily COVID cases and deaths and low vaccination rate, have been placed in category 'C’:

(1) Armenia

(2) Bulgaria

(3) Costa Rica

(4) Iraq

(5) Mexico

b. Furthermore, the following countries have been designated as "high-risk countries":

(6) Mongolia

(7) Slovenia

(8) Thailand

(9) Trinidad & Tobago

(10) Ukraine

c. In the wake of "high disease" indicators, the following countries have been placed in a high-risk list for continuous monitoring, however, no travel restrictions have been imposed on them, NCOC said.

(1) Russia

(2) Iran

(3) Ethiopia

(4) Germany

(5) Philippines

(6) Afghanistan

Category 'B' countries

All countries, (including high-risk countries) not in category ‘C’, are placed in category ‘B’ with "no inbound travel restrictions", NCOC said.

Health, testing protocols

The health and testing protocols for inbound air travel, which go into effect on November 5, are as under:

• 100% vaccination for all inbound passengers
• All travellers aged 6 and above, whether locals or foreigners, should be in possession of a negative PCR test report (max 72 hours old) before boarding the plane.
  
• Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) on arrival at airport for all inbound passengers has been abolished, except for people travelling via direct a flight from category ‘C’ and high-risk countries. Selective flights/symptomatic passengers from category 'B' countries will also undergo RAT.
• Testing protocols are also applicable for all inbound border terminals, except for Afghanistan. Afghani inbound pedestrians can travel to Pakistan through border terminals without vaccination certificates or PCR tests. However, they will undergo stringent testing and quarantine protocols as already outlined.