Pakistan Restricts Entry of Passengers from UK Due to New Strain of Coronavirus

[Abbas Ali]

Travel restrictions for passengers traveling to Pakistan from United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa effective from January 5, 2021.

As per decision of the National Command & Operations Centre (NCOC), following restrictions will be applicable on inbound travel to Pakistan from UK and South Africa.

Measures effective January 5, 2021, 0001 hours

a. Pakistani nationals with short term UK and South African visit visas and Pakistani passport holders including work permit holders, having any type of visa issued by the British/South African authorities, may travel to Pakistan in accordance with applicable rules/regulations and Standard Operating Procedures while in possession of a negative PCR test result conducted within 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan. However, any or all passengers traveling to Pakistan from UK and South Africa will be subjected to PCR testing, quarantine/isolation and other stipulations as specified by the health authorities upon arrival in Pakistan.

b. Diplomats and their families may also travel to Pakistan from UK and South Africa while in possession of a negative PCR test result conducted within 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan. However, such diplomats and their families will be subjected to PCR testing upon arrival and quarantine/isolation with their respective Embassy/High Commission for a time period as specified by the relevant health authorities.

Measures effective January 9, 2021, 0000 hours - January 31, 2021, 2359 hours

c. In addition to the exemption provided in Para 2 (a-b) above, passengers holding valid National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) or Pakistan Origin Card (POC) and having stayed in UK or South Africa in the last ten days prior to travel to Pakistan, may travel to Pakistan in accordance with applicable rules/regulations and Standard Operating Procedures while in possession of a negative PCR test result conducted within the 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan.

d. However, any of all passengers falling in the above categories will also be subjected to Rapid Antigen Tests upon arrival in Pakistan whereby all negative testing passengers will be allowed to leave the airport with the advice to self quarantine/isolate for a period of five days and any or all positive testing passengers will be subjected to PCR testing by the relevant health authorities with the advice to ensure strict self-quarantine at home till results of such PCR tests. Further actions will be taken by the relevant health authorities as Standard Operating Procedures in light of subsequent test results.

3. Any of all passengers fulfilling any criteria as mentioned in Para 2(a-d) above, arriving in Pakistan from UK or South Africa of having stayed in UK or South Africa within the last ten days prior to travel to Pakistan may also be subjected to additional stipulations as specified by the relevant health authorities upon arrival in Pakistan.

4. The aforesaid measures will remain in effect until January 31, 2021, 2359 hours and may be reviewed by the competent authority at its discretion.



Abbas

[Badar42]

Are you able to update on 9th if they are allowed to travel during the lockdown please? My family needs to travel but I can’t afford to be denied boarding and money locked into some voucher.

Will do,its not easy at the moment,Pak govt has said 9th of Jan but with current lockdown in UK situation may change yet again

[ahsan22]

Anyone travelled to Pakistan from UK on or after 9th January? Did airline asked any questions for the reason of travel? And has Pakistan opened the borders to Dual citizens? Thank you

[bukhari917]

Although I didn't travel from UK, I arrived Karachi yesterday from Amsterdam via Istanbul. After disembarking from the plane as we walked to immigration, there was a man announcing that people who arrived from UK or South Africa have to fill a Seperate form and should go to dedicated counter. (Mind that we already have pcr result, pass track app print and health declaration form by airline- UK and South African arrivals had to fill yet another form. What happened to them after that I don't know, but as we moved forward there a Sindh health department desk who asked to see corona test.
We moved forward , there was a thermal scanner and yet another health department counter where we were asked to hand over our passtrack prints. Asked for arrival origin and allowed to leave for immigration.
The whole process including immigration took about 5min.

[Badar42]

Anyone travelled to Pakistan from UK on or after 9th January? Did airline asked any questions for the reason of travel? And has Pakistan opened the borders to Dual citizens? Thank you

Hi,my relatives travelled yesterday with ba,no questions were asked but pcr was checked,upon arrival another test was taken and as it goes it was chaos and apparently few people started arguing about delays and left without the test.

[misrar787]

With UK now requiring all arriving passengers to undertake Covid-19 test 72 hours before departure - any idea which Labs in Pakistan have been approved by them or by airline such as Virgin and BA?

Thank you

[adamalikhan]

With UK now requiring all arriving passengers to undertake Covid-19 test 72 hours before departure - any idea which Labs in Pakistan have been approved by them or by airline such as Virgin and BA?

Thank you

Nothing has been announced yet. This requirement was due to come in on Fri but now postponed until Mon. They have not even stipulated which test is acceptable.

[bukhari917]

With UK now requiring all arriving passengers to undertake Covid-19 test 72 hours before departure - any idea which Labs in Pakistan have been approved by them or by airline such as Virgin and BA?

Thank you

Nothing has been announced yet. This requirement was due to come in on Fri but now postponed until Mon. They have not even stipulated which test is acceptable.

In rest of the world, they don't chose which lab you have to go. Neither countries nor airlines ..they only tell you the type of test. Its poor countries like us where Kings of Arabs decide to impose and force anything they want and we are always more than happy to comply - without thinking of our self respect. Generally you can and should be able to go to any government approved lab. In the past I complained to CAA that airlines should not decide labs and should accept any tests like they do in all countries. CAA sent me follow ups and forwarded the complaints to Emirates, Turkish, Qatar and Etihad. Not sure what other airlines did but Emirates did reach out to me directly asking details of complaints. They apologized that i felt discriminated. Emirates i believe now accept test results of all labs approved by govt of Pakistan. Other airlines didn't bother.

[misrar787]

With UK now requiring all arriving passengers to undertake Covid-19 test 72 hours before departure - any idea which Labs in Pakistan have been approved by them or by airline such as Virgin and BA?

Thank you

Nothing has been announced yet. This requirement was due to come in on Fri but now postponed until Mon. They have not even stipulated which test is acceptable.

In rest of the world, they don't chose which lab you have to go. Neither countries nor airlines ..they only tell you the type of test. Its poor countries like us where Kings of Arabs decide to impose and force anything they want and we are always more than happy to comply - without thinking of our self respect. Generally you can and should be able to go to any government approved lab. In the past I complained to CAA that airlines should not decide labs and should accept any tests like they do in all countries. CAA sent me follow ups and forwarded the complaints to Emirates, Turkish, Qatar and Etihad. Not sure what other airlines did but Emirates did reach out to me directly asking details of complaints. They apologized that i felt discriminated. Emirates i believe now accept test results of all labs approved by govt of Pakistan. Other airlines didn't bother.

Spot on! On the UK governments they have listed the following labs approved by the government of Pakistan,
https://covid.gov.pk/facilities/1%20Jan ... %20Web.pdf

What I don't understand is the UK's requirements for the test.

The government said all forms of PCR test would be accepted, as would other forms of test "with 97% sensitivity and 99% specificity".


Maybe I am being a thick here

[baberblues]

With UK now requiring all arriving passengers to undertake Covid-19 test 72 hours before departure - any idea which Labs in Pakistan have been approved by them or by airline such as Virgin and BA?

Thank you

Nothing has been announced yet. This requirement was due to come in on Fri but now postponed until Mon. They have not even stipulated which test is acceptable.

In rest of the world, they don't chose which lab you have to go. Neither countries nor airlines ..they only tell you the type of test. Its poor countries like us where Kings of Arabs decide to impose and force anything they want and we are always more than happy to comply - without thinking of our self respect. Generally you can and should be able to go to any government approved lab. In the past I complained to CAA that airlines should not decide labs and should accept any tests like they do in all countries. CAA sent me follow ups and forwarded the complaints to Emirates, Turkish, Qatar and Etihad. Not sure what other airlines did but Emirates did reach out to me directly asking details of complaints. They apologized that i felt discriminated. Emirates i believe now accept test results of all labs approved by govt of Pakistan. Other airlines didn't bother.

You know you are not obligated to fly these airlines. If you were feeling discriminated you could've flown with another airline. why the complaint?

Also wasn't there a recent bust up in regards to issuing fake covid test results, hence why specified the specific labs?

[misrar787]

Does anyone know of someone who has travelled to UK since the mandatory PCR negative result is required? What was their experience like?

Also which labs meet the standard?

Thank you

[Abbas Ali]

According to news channels, Pakistan CAA has issued new directive for crew of aircraft arriving in Pakistan from UK and South Africa.

Crew will have to bring COVID-19 test report with negative result.

Crew may also undergo COVID-19 test upon arrival in Pakistan.

Crew will be allowed to leave airport after arriving in Pakistan after completion of rules/regulations.

Crew will be transported from airport to hotel by transport arranged by the airline.

Crew will have to quarantine themselves in hotel rooms in Pakistan.

Crew can order and eat meals in their hotel rooms.

Abbas

[baberblues]

Is there any other country in the world that is also asking crews to quarantine?

[rvlhassan]

Is there any other country in the world that is also asking crews to quarantine?

I don't know any countries specifically, but I do know it is Emirates' and Qatar's company policy for crew to quarantine in their hotel rooms for the duration of their layover. I assume it's the same for BA and VS, but I do disagree with PCAA's other rules, i,e testing, it seems impractical.

[Abbas Ali]

Standard operating procedures for flight crew traveling to Pakistan on direct flights from UK, South Africa and Category C countries

Following Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be applicable to flight crew travelling on international flights operated by or on behalf of any airline operator involved in the operation of direct flight operations to Pakistan from UK, South Africa and Category-C countries:

• Flight crew will only be allowed to travel to Pakistan while holding a negative PCR test certification conducted in the last 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan.
• Flight crew will be cleared expeditiously through relevant formalities related to arrival/departure at Pakistan by the concerned authorities via separate gates/counters at the airport.
• Flight crew will be exempted from testing on arrival in Pakistan. This however, will be applicable to flight crew displaying no symptoms related to COVID-19.
• Flight crew will be transported directly to the designated hotels upon disembarkation at an airport in Pakistan in designated vehicles, arrangement for which will be made by the concerned airline operator.
• Flight crew will observe mandatory and strict quarantine in their rooms at the designated hotels in Pakistan and any or all interaction beyond the authorized limits will be forbidden.
• Flight crew will be served any foods/meals only in the designated rooms.
• Any flight crew displaying any symptoms related to COVID-19 may be subjected to additional testing by the concerned health authorities.

However, compliance with any or all additional stipulations as specified by the health authorities upon arrival in Pakistan will also be mandatory for all flight crew arriving in Pakistan on direct international flights from UK, South Africa and Category C countries.

Abbas