The Sindh government on Thursday announced it will test all international passengers arriving at the Jinnah International Airport and keep them under quarantine as per standard operating procedures. The announcement comes after earlier in the day the Sindh health department had raised alarm over the Centre’s new policy regarding the repatriation of overseas Pakistanis whereby passengers are sent home without obtaining their Covid-19 test results. Previously, overseas Pakistanis repatriated to the country were quarantined for 24 hours and let go after testing negative for the virus. Those diagnosed positive were quarantined for 14 days. The development also comes as the chief minister’s law adviser MurtazaWahab said that 246 passengers had landed in Karachi from Saudi Arabia and 123 of them were diagnosed positive when tested. “Federal government wanted the flights to open and allow people in without tests. Sindh government took tests of the passengers and will now have to trace the passengers and isolate them,” he wrote. The federal government has lifted the ban on national and international flights and announced that passengers will no longer be tested. “The Sindh government, keeping in view the Covid-19 emergency and gravity of the situation, has decided to test each and every passenger, landing in Karachi. These passengers would be kept in quarantine,” said a statement by the provincial government. According to the statement, passengers flying in from other countries “would have to undergo the Covid-19 test which is not only in their interest but in the interest of their family members and social circle”. DrMoeedYousuf on Wednesday announced a new policy for overseas Pakistanis being repatriated back to the country, saying that the number of passengers being brought back to the country have been increased on directives of PM Imran.
