COVID-19: Pak says plan underway to bring back 43,000 Pakistanis from different countries

Pakistan on Friday said a comprehensive and phased repatriation plan was underway to bring back approximately 43,000 Pakistanis stuck in different countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said approximately 2,000 Pakistanis are being brought back home in the second phase of repatriation from April 14-18 through nine special flights.

She said approximately 43,000 Pakistanis in different countries need to be brought back for which a comprehensive and phased repatriation plan was underway.

So far, 2,287 stranded Pakistanis have been repatriated home through 12 PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) special flights from Doha, Dubai, Bangkok, Istanbul, London, Baku, Tashkent, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Farooqui said.

The spokesperson said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Missions abroad established a robust and round the clock outreach initiative to provide overseas communities with relief and assistance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is providing Pakistan Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine, biohazard safety cabinets, test kits and related consumables to help fight the novel coronavirus through the use of a nuclear derived machine.

The provision of this equipment will augment Pakistan's national capacity to conduct COVID-19 tests which are crucial in containing the spread of the disease. The Embassy of Pakistan in Vienna is coordinating with the IAEA for the equipment's early shipment to Pakistan, Farooqui said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 7,125 on Friday after 497 new infections were reported, according to the latest official data.

At least 11 people died during the period, taking the number of total deaths in the country to 135.